Hundreds of clean energy jobs set to be created across Wales

Households and businesses in Wales will benefit from Government funding for low-cost, low-carbon heat networks.

The Green Heat Network Fund (GHNF) – which already supports heat networks in England – is being expanded to fund projects in Wales, giving Welsh consumers the opportunity to access clean, homegrown energy, thereby reducing reliance on costly fossil fuels.

This follows events in the Middle East, which have served as another reminder of the importance of the Government’s drive for clean, homegrown power – with heat networks playing an important part in that mission.

This will see £195 million a year invested into heat network projects across England and Wales for the rest of the decade, with thousands of households benefitting from cleaner heating.

The expansion is also expected to support hundreds of clean energy jobs across Wales, with opportunities for engineers, architects and construction workers to work on the clean heating systems of the future.

The move also builds on major Government investments in innovative heat network projects in England. For example, a £15 million heat network in Sunderland which will recover energy from a data centre to heat buildings across the city, creating almost 300 jobs and apprenticeships.

Secretary of State for Wales, Jo Stevens, said:

“The expansion of UK Government funding of low-cost heat networks to Wales is good news for bill payers and is just one of a range of measures we are taking to tackle the cost of living.

“We are lowering energy bills by up to £117 for households as well as reducing our reliance on imported fossil fuel to bring down bills and put more money into people’s pockets.

“Wales will also benefit from the new jobs that will be created in our growing green energy sector.”

Heat networks are a way of heating multiple buildings from a central heating source – such as heat pumps or excess heat generated from sewage systems, factories or data centres – to provide hot water and heating to homes and other buildings through insulated pipes.

There are already more than 500,000 heat network customers across Britain.

Earlier this year, greater consumer protections were introduced to the market for the first time – bringing heat network customers across England, Scotland and Wales closer in line with people living on traditional gas and electricity connections, with Ofgem installed as regulator.

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