Abstract |
Bridgend County Borough Council has been working with a group of stakeholders consisting of Welsh Government, Western Power Distribution, Wales and West Utilities and the Energy Systems Catapult, to pilot an advanced whole system approach to local area energy planning. Bridgend is one of three areas including Newcastle and Bury in Greater Manchester participating in the pilot project as part of the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) Smart Systems and Heat (SSH) Programme.
This report is one of two reports reviewing the commercial and technical viability of a predominately domestic heat network across two clusters in Bridgend. This report assesses semi-detached homes in the area connected to a network including 13 specified non-domestic buildings.
This report finds that the dwellings connected are generally clustered which benefits the heat network due to the increased heat density. However, connection to outlying properties should be reviewed, as they require extensive lengths of pipe to connect comparably small heat offtake. This can be mitigated by connecting the (detached) dwellings specified in the parallel report, which in most circumstances would increase the heat density of outlying areas.
The commercial viability of the scheme could be improved by connecting key non-domestic buildings throughout both clusters in addition to those specified. Several buildings are not considered for connection despite adjacent residential connections.
There were no significant barriers found to energy centre development. The key risk associated with the energy centre development is anticipated to be the heat pump source, as this is currently unclear, and it is not known if this source is available or can provide the required temperatures while meeting current or future industry standards. |