Wales Office Minister, Stephen Crabb MP is calling on Local Authorities in Wales to take full advantage of a new £6m grant funding programme to develop plans for new heating and cooling networks.

Launched by Energy and Climate Change Minister, Greg Barker, local authorities in England and Wales are being asked to bring forward ambitious and innovative proposals to develop and deliver heat networks that draw their heat energy from renewable, sustainable or recoverable sources.

This could include any system in which heat is generated off-site by renewable or recovered sources such as waste heat from industry, energy from waste plants and biomass combined heat and power. Many university campuses, new mixed commercial and residential developments and high rise flats draw their heat from these systems.

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Wales Office Minister, Stephen Crabb MP said: "Harnessing all the resources at our disposal to the fullest has to be an integral part of our future energy security, as we aim to reduce our dependency on the more traditional energy sources.

"We constantly need to assess how we use energy, how we think about energy and where we get our energy from. As such, I would encourage all local authorities in Wales to take advantage of this opportunity to develop more commercially viable low carbon heat networks.

"Only by doing so, can we go that extra step further to helping Wales to stake its place at the forefront of the transition to a low carbon economy."

(CD/JP)