Heat Network awarded £16m funding

The council’s partner, Veolia, has been awarded over £16m to bring a low-carbon, heat network to new parts of Southwark.

Today’s announcement confirms further funding for Veolia Southwark’s heat networks.

The network will turn unrecyclable waste into affordable low carbon heat for thousands of homes, local businesses and public buildings.

Energy from Waste (EfW) plants tackle two key challenges as we move towards a more sustainable society: waste and climate change.

Not only do they deliver significant low carbon electricity, but they also process waste that would otherwise end up in landfill. The generation of electricity results in high temperature waste heat which can be captured and used to heat our homes and buildings. Finally, the ash (produced as a by-product) can be used as aggregate in the construction sector.

Veolia has been awarded over £16 million to bring an EfW sourced, low-carbon, heat network to a new area of Southwark. It will supply heat and hot water to eleven existing estates and five schools that currently depend on gas boilers. The extension will also support the future growth of the area.

The project is subject to further agreement with SELCHP Ltd (the existing EfW energy centre) and will involve some modifications to improve efficiencies and enable further heat extraction and the construction of a new six-kilometre district heat network.

The network is expected to deliver on average 11,100 tonnes of carbon savings each year.

Cllr Helen Dennis, Cabinet Member for the Climate Emergency and Sustainable Development, said: 

“79 per cent of emissions in Southwark are from buildings, so to achieve our ambition of being net-zero by 2030, it’s crucial that we take steps to green all of our homes and buildings and support the shift away from gas.

We are delighted to see this significant project move forward to do just that on eleven of our estates and at five of our schools in the Old Kent Road and North Peckham area. This will provide a sustainable and affordable heating and hot water solution, which will keep our students and residents warm, whilst also making a massive reduction in the borough’s carbon emissions.”