Government research has been approved to carry out the feasibility work on a low carbon heating project led by energy firm E.ON, working with the University of Exeter and technology providers SK Solar and Star Renewable Energy.

The work is to create a UK-first community-wide energy scheme based on emissions-free renewable energy sources.

The project, to be funded by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), is based at E.ON's energy centre in Cranbrook, to the east of Exeter, and will seek to demonstrate how solar thermal panels and heat pumps can replace or work alongside the existing gas-fired district heating scheme to provide a lower cost and significantly lower carbon heating and hot water source.

If initial work and tests are successful this will lead to the construction and testing of the system over a range of live operational scenarios to learn as much as possible about this innovative design.

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The existing district heating scheme provides a central source of heat and hot water from the energy centre which is then supplied to homes in Cranbrook and the nearby Skypark commercial complex through a network of super-insulated underground pipes. It will supply the 3,500 new homes in Cranbrook as well as 1.4 million sq ft of industrial space at Skypark.

The project will see the installation of approximately 2,000 sq m solar thermal array on land next to the energy centre as well as a high temperature (>80°C) heat pump.

The ground-mounted panels will collect solar heat to supply the heat pump which will increase the water temperature ready for use in the heating system. Hot water not needed immediately can be stored in a dedicated thermal storage tank which will be installed alongside existing equipment attached to the district heating system.

Jeremy Bungey, Head of Community Energy at E.ON, said: "District heating schemes such as Cranbrook are lower carbon by their very design, and we often see carbon savings of around a quarter compared to traditional home heating such as gas boilers.

"By migrating the energy source from gas-fired combined heat and power plants to renewable energy sources we believe we could see a further significant reduction in carbon emissions and still maintain secure and reliable supplies to our customers.

"This is a demonstration project at this stage but if it proves successful, the integrated technology we are pioneering here could be replicated in existing and new district heating schemes right across the country and would make a significant contribution to easing the impact on the environment which comes from domestic heating."

(CD/JP)