By Will Jones
Labour has launched a Net Zero scheme to transport hot water on barges on the River Thames to heat London homes instead of each home having a gas boiler. The Telegraph has the story.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has earmarked £41 million for a project to launch electric boats that will travel upriver from a power plant in Belvedere, south east London, before pumping water into storage tanks on riverside pontoons.
From here, the water, heated to almost 100 degrees Celsius, would flow through pipes into nearby heat networks, which are systems that supply hot water to multiple buildings from a centralised heat source, rather than each property having its own boiler. The Government has claimed the project could eventually supply up to 650,000 homes.
The scheme, believed to be the first of its kind anywhere in the world, could also serve London landmarks, including the National Theatre, when it launches in 2028.
The Telegraph understands that most of the £41 million funding will go towards extracting waste heat from the Belvedere power plant to warm the water, as well as building four barges. Each barge could hold two million litres of water, equivalent to 80% of the volume of an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
It comes as part of the Government’s plan to roll out heat networks to as many as five million households in Britain by 2050. Under plans drawn up by Ed Miliband, the former energy secretary, Labour is expected to spend £1.1 billion on heat networks by the end of this Parliament.
The Government has said the rollout of heat networks is an important part of its Net Zero drive because the systems often rely on waste heat to warm homes. This power can be drawn from excess heat produced by data centres and energy facilities that would have otherwise been wasted.
Shimeon Lee, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Taxpayers will be baffled that £41 million is backing a scheme to ship hot water down the Thames.
“Net Zero projects cannot be handed blank cheques simply because they sound innovative. Ministers need to prove this delivers real value for money before taxpayers are asked to bankroll it.”
The barges will act as a temporary hot water supply while construction of a ‘mega’ heat distribution system underneath central London takes place.
Worth reading in full.
