The first set of town centre customers are ready to start benefitting from Solihull’s new low carbon energy network.
Phase one customer agreements have been signed to supply heat to Solihull College & University Centre, Tudor Grange Academy, The Core Library and Tudor Grange Leisure Centre. Once up and running, the Council’s new District Energy Network will deliver heat and hot water into the taps, radiators, and heating systems of these connected town centre buildings.
Utilising low carbon solutions, including air source heat pumps, the energy will be generated at a centralised new energy centre, located next to Tudor Grange Leisure Centre, and distributed to individual buildings via a system of underground pipes and cables.
Solihull Council recently announced that it was partnering up with Vital Energi Ltd to deliver this ambitious scheme, which is expected to deliver significant carbon savings while helping to reduce fuel bills and future-proof business and consumer energy needs.
For individual buildings, decarbonising heat is expensive and often disruptive to occupants. A town centre energy network enables existing buildings and new developments to benefit from centrally based low carbon heat generation with minimal disruption and in a cost-effective manner benefitting from economies of scale.
Customer agreements and individual contracts will be managed by ‘Solihull Energy Limited’, a new energy services company (ESCo) set up and owned by Solihull Council. The independent company is overseen by a Board of Directors, made up of senior council officers, and reports to a Shareholder Panel comprised of elected councillors.