Member Article

Two Sheffield organisations sign up to £20 million E.ON low carbon heating network

E.ON today announced two Sheffield organisations have agreed to connect to its new £20 million low carbon district heating network to be built in the Lower Don valley.

Powered by the heat from E.ON’s soon-to-be-completed Blackburn Meadows renewable energy plant, the additional investment will see an 8km district heating pipe network supplying low carbon heat to Sheffield Forgemasters’ quarter mile long South Machine Shop as well as world class sports and leisure facilities operated by Sheffield International Venues.

Blackburn Meadows will use UK sourced recycled waste wood to power the plant and, as far as is possible, and has used local companies throughout the construction. It is expected the site will create around 30 full-time jobs within the local area once operational.

More major customers are due to announce soon and hundreds, if not thousands, of residential customers could follow, for newly built homes along the pipe route.

The energy plant, currently nearing completion in the north-west of the city on the site of the former Tinsley Power Station and cooling towers, will produce 29MW of electricity – enough power for around 40,000 homes.

By capturing a further 25MW of heat energy which would otherwise be lost in traditional energy generation, this green energy plant is more efficient and effective.

Already agreed to connect are Sheffield Forgemasters, iceSheffield, the English Institute of Sport Sheffield and the Motorpoint Arena (all part of Sheffield International Venues).

It is expected the four buildings will see an average carbon saving of 70%1 compared to other sources of heating such as gas boilers, saving an estimated 1,700 tonnes of Co2 per year.

Don Leiper, Director of New Business at E.ON, said: “Building on the construction of our renewable energy plant at Blackburn Meadows, this is a substantial investment in Sheffield’s energy future and I’m delighted we’ve already been able to secure customers to our network, organisations looking to reduce their carbon footprints and benefit from a secure and locally-produced heat energy supply.”

Victoria Hinchcliffe, Group Environment Director at Sheffield Forgemasters, said: “As an energy intensive user, Forgemasters is very pleased to be part of the Lower Don Valley heat network. We are always seeking new ways to reduce our carbon emissions and improve our environmental performance.

“We look forward to supporting this local project as well as exploring how we may potentially capture some of our own waste heat to feed back in to the network in the future.”

Sheffield International Venues Deputy Chief Executive, Andrew Snelling, said: “We are delighted that our three world class venues in the lower Don Valley will be connecting to the E.ON biomass district heating system.

“It helps fulfil our objective of utilising renewable energy sources wherever we can across our portfolio. We congratulate E.ON and look forward to a successful and mutually beneficial long term partnership.”

Richard Wright, Executive Director of Sheffield Chamber, added: “Energy costs and availability are a massive issue for business. I cannot stress enough how important the E.ON investment and its extension into a district heating scheme is to the future.

“I know the plans include connecting this to the existing scheme in the centre of Sheffield and will position us very much at the forefront in energy efficiency. We applaud the move.”

The heat energy will be transported to customers along a network of super-insulated pipes running from the plant into the Lower Don Valley. Much of the pipeline will be underground or on private land keeping disruption to a minimum during the construction phase.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .