2014

This commission was directly with Oxford City Council and was part financed by HNDU. The work has been completed to the expectations of both the client and HNDU. The BRE and Greenfield team has secured a commission to undertake follow-on feasibility and business planning.

The project was carried out by BRE and Greenfield, and focused on overall heat mapping and outline masterplanning in several parts of the city. The city comprises quite distinct areas and it emerged that potential exists in a number of prominent areas.

An outline master plan has been delivered for Oxford. The idea for this was to obtain an overview for a city that hitherto did not have any district heating networks. For this purpose the National Heat Map was initially used to assess areas with significant heat demand density, and this was augmented by means of a series of interviews with potentially interested stake-holders. The work involved an investigation of existing energy centres and local sources of surplus and renewable energy. By developing this strategic view, likely opportunities for fu-ture expansion were examined, including the possibility of developing a wider (city wide) scheme in future.

The major heat loads and current and likely future areas of high heat demand density were identified and included in an outline masterplan, which together with existing energy centres could form the core for heat network development. An indication was provided of the possi-ble sequence and phasing for their development and potential future linkage. Preliminary heat network layouts were configured, together with the indicative heat demand, possible energy supply and network length.

Gas fired CHP is envisaged as the principal heat source, but a range of other sources includ-ing biomass, industrial waste heat, and waste heat from sewage via heat pumps, are also under scrutiny.