Northern heat and powerhouse: energy innovation puts Gateshead on the map

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Northern heat and powerhouse: energy innovation puts Gateshead on the map

By District Energy posted 05-04-2018 10:50

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Brendan Coyne, The Energyst

Summary

At The Energyst Event, Marissa Granath, Gateshead Council’s energy business development officer, outlined how the local authority is providing cheaper heat and power to commercial and residential customers, and funding front line services.

Gateshead Council started thinking about a town centre heat network in 2010. Today, it has the heat network, but also provides power to local businesses via a private wire, and earns grid balancing revenues via a 3MW battery.

As such, the energy centre is delivering benefits greater than the sum of its parts – and the council will apply the learnings to its next district energy schemes, which are already in planning.

For other local authorities mulling similar projects, Granath offered succinct advice: Focus on customers and benefits over pipes, wires or technologies.