Heat Network Feasibility Study
In the context of Theobald’s Business Park accommodating a data centre, Broxbourne Borough Council looked into the potential of this facility to recover the waste heat generated by its operation.
The Council have successfully obtained funding from the UK Government’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) to undertake a heat network feasibility study for the towns within Broxbourne’s borders, having commissioned a team of consultants to undertake the works. The feasibility study is the analysis of a project to determine its practicality and viability, and it does not imply that a heat network is to be developed, this fact being conditioned by multiple technoeconomic factors.
The study identified three clusters that had the potential to each form a heat network. For each of the three clusters, a number of potential connections and total heat load were identified: These were:
Sources of heat identified were:
- Waste heat from the proposed data centre
- River source heat pumps from the River Lee and the New River
- Ground source heat pumps from various open areas
Air Source heat pumps generally available within land and grid constraints
Overall, the techno-economics feasibility study has found that each of the three identified clusters have potential for a heat network to be installed but do not appear to be financially viable without investment from the private sector. This comes with the caveat that the energy data used for a majority of the loads are unknown and therefore are forced to be estimated