The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) confirms Triple Point Heat Networks Investment Management as Delivery Partner for the Green Heat Network Fund (GHNF).
Appointment follows prior success implementing BEIS flagship Heat Networks Investment Project (HNIP).
After four successful years of delivering the Government’s flagship Heat Networks Investment Project (HNIP), Triple Point Heat Networks Investment Management (TP Heat Networks) has been confirmed as Preferred Bidder for the role of Delivery Partner for the subsequent Green Heat Network Fund. Amberside Advisors has been a vital partner in this consortium since 2018 and we are proud to be part of the team selected as the preferred bidder in recognition of the successful delivery of HNIP.
TP Heat Networks is uniquely positioned to deliver this major government initiative to decarbonise the UK’s heating and cooling networks. First appointed in 2018 as BEIS’s Delivery Partner for HNIP and having already awarded over £250 million under that programme to projects across England and Wales, the team are poised and ready to continue partnering with BEIS to bring about a just transition to net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
What will be a significant contributor to the UK’s mission to net zero, this £288 million capital fund will enable both new and existing heat networks in England to decarbonise by transitioning to low carbon technologies, including heat pumps, waste heat from industrial processes, and energy from geothermal sources.
Throughout the four years of HNIP, there has been a material shift in the market and improved engagement with a wider audience than ever before. The mine water schemes HNIP has enabled – a compelling legacy of the UK’s industrial past, our disused mine workings are now powering the green revolution and delivering affordable heat to the homes of families that had suffered terrible hardships when the mines had closed – are just one example of the type of project that has excited and engaged the community, industry, finance and political stakeholders.
The Green Heat Network Fund will build on this existing progress, and will be open to public, private and third sector applicants in England from March 2022, running until at least 2025.
Sharing the Government’s strategic vision for the scheme, TP Heat Networks will draw on learnings from the previous programme to deliver an outstanding applicant experience spearheaded by a team with deep sector knowledge and project expertise.
TP Heat Networks has worked closely with HNIP applicants over the last three years, building relationships with the project teams, supporting applicants and expanding the pipeline of opportunities that will prove valuable in the delivery of GHNF. Current estimates of the heat networks pipeline in England and Wales puts it at over £1.5 billion: more than double its value in 2018.
TP Heat Networks shares with BEIS an ambition – yet unfulfilled – to deliver a self-sustaining heat networks market and will continue to prioritise and provide the world-class stakeholder engagement required to transform the UK’s heat networks market. Committed to hastening the transition of the market to sources of low carbon heat, the team has already increased its engagement with the supply chain in recognition of the need for rapid growth.
The Triple Point Heat Network Investment Management is comprised of the following organisations: Triple Point Investment Management, Amberside Advisors, AECOM, Gemserv, Lux Nova Partners Ltd and Asteros Advisors.
Richard Turner, Director at Amberside Advisors, said: “Our mission is to help organisations raise competitive funding that enables them to achieve their net zero goals. Given this, we are especially delighted to be part of the GHNF Delivery Partner group, building on the success of the whole team’s work on HNIP. We look forward to continuing our work with project sponsors and investors, ensuring high quality heat network projects, capable of attracting private investment, come forward under GHNF.”
Ken Hunnisett, Project Director at Triple Point Heat Networks Investment Management, said: “We are proud and excited that Triple Point Heat Networks Investment Management has once again been chosen to deliver this major Government contract focussed on the toughest of all challenges on the road to net zero: how to lower emissions from the ways in which we heat our homes and workplaces. More than that though, the award by BEIS is the strongest endorsement of the successes it has seen in our delivery of the GHNF’s predecessor, the £320m Heat Networks Investment Project. The team will be building on the learnings and successes made during HNIP and are eager to work alongside BEIS once more in the execution of a shared vision of a truly sustainable, dynamic and efficient heat networks market. Heat networks are complex infrastructure projects but the team has demonstrated an ability to inject real immediacy into their development and will continue to do so.
“District heating, like other clean energy vectors, has a vital role to play in levelling-up communities and driving out place-based inequalities. Our role in delivering the GHNF is not just a fixed-term contract but the next big step in a multi-generational commitment Triple Point has made to a just transition to net zero.”
The appointment of Triple Point Heat Networks Investment Management has been welcomed by the industry.
Anthony Meanwell, Head of Decarbonisation for E.ON (City Energy Solutions and Generation), said: “District Heating is a strategically important sector for E.ON, just as it is for the UK at large as we transition to net zero. The decision by BEIS to appoint Triple Point to the role of scheme Delivery Partner – as it did for the Heat Networks Investment Project – means the Green Heat Network Fund is in the best possible hands.”