First homes soon to be connected to £30m heating network
A multi million pound renewable energy venture between a Scottish council and a private energy firm is aiming to connect homes to a giant heat network in the upcoming months.
Midlothian Council and Vattenfall Heat UK, a renewable energy firm, are aiming to have the first homes at the new Shawfair development ready to be powered by a national heat network by October.
The £30 million joint development is funded equally between Midlothian Council and the UK energy firm with £7.3m funding provided by the Scottish Government’s Low Carbon Infrastructure Transformation Programme.
The initial phase of the network aims to supply 3000 homes in Shawfair, located south of Edinburgh, and a further 1000 homes at Newton and Wellington Farms using waste heat from FCC Environment’s Millerhill Recycling and Energy Recovery Centre.
The recycling plant will burn tonnes of waste which would normally go to landfills to create hot water which will then be transferred to homes in the towns via a giant heating network.
Homes connected to the heating network will have a heat interface unit installed instead of a boiler, which acts as a heat exchanger and will provide domestic hot water and central heating.