Enabling the city to fulfil its ambition to be the leading Clean Growth City
Bradford Energy Network is a planned Low-to-Zero Carbon (LZC) district heating network being developed for the city centre, allowing businesses and organisations to decarbonise their heating systems, along with delivering a number of other benefits to the city of Bradford. The £70 m Bradford Energy Network project is progressing, and Isoplus UK recently supplied pipeline materials for the current phase of the heat network.
Project Ambitions
In 2019 the UK Government set ambitious statutory targets for the country to achieve net zero carbon by 2050. A key part of the Government’s net zero carbon policy is the decarbonisation of heat. For businesses in Bradford and across the country who use gas to create heat, this will mean moving from the current reliance on gas boilers, to lower carbon or net-zero forms of heating over the coming years. Bradford Council is at the forefront of national ambitions to shift to net zero and has set a goal of being the UK’s leading clean growth district, establishing a target for the city to be net-zero by 2038 – 12 years ahead of the national target.
The Bradford Energy Network will be the UK’s largest Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP) district energy project, using 7.5 MW of ASHP to deliver renewable heat. Phase 1 of the project will lead to the removal of 25 MW of gas boilers in the city centre, resulting in a substantial improvement in air quality and health, a benefit that will only increase as the BEN expands.
Predicted reduction of CO₂ emissions in the city centre is approximately 8,000 tons per year in Phase 1 alone.
The project will introduce a new, cost-effective method of decarbonising heat, estimated to be approximately 30% cheaper than the current alternatives. This will result in significant cost savings for Bradford’s public and private sector organisations. It will establish the foundation of Bradford’s Net Zero Infrastructure, enabling the city to fulfil its ambition to be the leading Clean Growth City.
About 1Energy and Bradford Energy Limited
Bradford Energy Limited (BEL) has been established to construct and operate the Bradford Energy Network (BEN) – a district heat network that will deliver renewable heat from a central Energy Centre to the buildings in and around the centre of Bradford through large underground pipes. Bradford Energy Limited is backed by 1Energy Group, a team of experts in district heating networks with collective experience of delivering and operating over 45 district heating projects in the UK over the last 15 years. Alongside this 1Energy has mobilised several hundred million pounds of funding to build a series of low-to-zero carbon (LZC) district energy projects across the UK, of which Bradford is the first. This experience and funding makes 1Energy one of the leading teams in LZC district heating in the UK.
Customer: 1Energy
Country: United Kingdom
Application: Bioenergy & agriculture
Construction period: 2024 – ongoing
Product solutions: 6 km of trench: DN400 Pre-insulated Steel Pipe; Series 3 Insulation; Fusion welded joints.
