Around 50 urban rivers and estuaries in England could provide large-scale renewable heating supplies to local communities, according to a new map produced by Buro Happold for the Department of Energy and Climate Change.
The map identifies rivers and estuaries that could accommodate heat pumps with the capacity to each generate more than 1MW of power, which is roughly enough to provide heating and hot water to around 400-500 homes.
London and Windsor could benefit from power derived from the Thames, while Sheffield could draw energy from the Don and Newcastle from the Tyne.
Additional water sources named are the Frome and Avon rivers around Bristol, the Ouse through Bedford and York, the River Stour in Bournemouth and the Calder in Huddersfield.
The map identifies rivers and estuaries that could accommodate heat pumps
Publication of the map, available on the DECC website, is part of the government’s drive to boost the use of renewable energy, energy and climate change secretary Ed Davey said in a statement.
He said: “I want to help communities across England use our waterways for this renewable heat and this new map is designed to help communities, councils and developers identify the most promising opportunities.
“If we can succeed on the large scale, it would cut Britain’s import bill and boost our home-grown supplies of clean, secure energy.”
Tony Bowen, who sits on DECC’s steering committee on water source heat pump use, said the map and drive to encourage uptake of the technology were the start of a learning curve for developers as well as the Environment Agency. The EA issues permits for using water sources, ensuring, among other things, that installed systems do not prevent a danger to wildlife or fish stocks.
“Ten years ago the Environment Agency wouldn’t have known how to answer a permit request for a bole hole,” said Bowen, who has 30 years in the heat pump business. “The map highlights the potential of water source pumps. We’ve got a lot more water than people think.”
But he said that river sources, such as the Thames, remain easier from a technological point of view, compared to estuary sources. Ten estuary and coastal sites named in the research include Hull, Southend on Sea, Liverpool and Blackpool.
Bowen, who is also the immediate past president of the Heat Pump Association, said developers should now look at payback potential under the non-domestic version of the government’s Renewable Heat Incentive. If a water source system meets certain output criteria, then there is a payback per kilowatt/hour to the energy supplier.
Use of water source pumps in the UK remains “tiny” compared to Scandinavian countries, he said.
A 2009 study by Finland’s Lappeenranta University of Technology showed that heat pumps, of all types, accounted for 5% of the country’s heat energy consumption.
But according to the same study, by 2020 nearly 20% of industrial buildings as well as public service buildings will have heat pumps installed. Almost 40% of agricultural buildings will have heat pumps and nearly half of all detached houses will have them.
