Providing low carbon expertise to boost a major biomass district heating scheme for over 2,000 homes
"I can’t thank you enough how much this will mean to this project and ultimately the customers using the system. I am hugely grateful for your commitment to this project and the service on the whole I receive from Reheat." Joe Keating, Stockport Homes Group
Key project achievements
- Making significant improvements in the operation of Stockport Homes’ biomass district heating scheme - one of the UK’s largest, reaching 2,174 homes
- Supporting the reduction of CO2 emissions by up to 90% per year (compared to previously installed gas boilers)
- Enhancing Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) revenue by £300,000 a year
- Minimising the use of back up gas
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The Stockport Homes biomass district heating programme was implemented in 2014 and comprises seven separate biomass schemes heating over 2,000 social homes. It replaced gas boilers and is currently one of the UK’s largest biomass district heating schemes, with Stockport Homes purchasing 6,000 tonnes of wood chips per year.
The social housing company developed the biomass programme as a wider remit of ECO funded works, including over-cladding and window replacement. For a decade, Reheat has worked in partnership with Stockport Homes providing consultancy and project management services to support the organisation’s ambitions for net zero heating.
One of Reheat’s core roles focuses on Stockport Homes seven large biomass/gas-fired heat networks, managing an ongoing programme to improve efficiency through a data-led approach using remote monitoring and incremental upgrades. These seven separate heat networks deliver low carbon heat to 2,174 social homes, including 22 high-rise tower blocks.
At technical level, Reheat has improved the delta Ts, lowered flow temperatures, improved network control and helped moved hundreds of residents to controllable metered heating.
The work for Stockport Homes has vastly improved the operation and efficiency of its biomass district heat network, significantly reducing CO2 emissions, increasing RHI revenues and almost entirely removing the need for gas boilers.
More Reheat services for Stockport Homes Group includes:
- Managing a £2.2 million contract to install low carbon heating systems in 505 properties
- Planning and designing a comprehensive upgrade and renewal of an existing biomass/gas heat network that connect 227 properties
- Developing an investment strategy for a £15 million low carbon heat network improvement programme for 2,300 properties over the next 5 years
- Securing over £350,000 of central government funding for Stockport Homes via the BEIS Heat Network Efficiency Scheme (HNES) demonstrator
programme - Costing and planning extensions to the heat networks to connect new build developments
- Designing and managing the installation of hundreds of Heat Interface Units to comply with the Heat Network Regulations
- Installing and operating bespoke remote monitoring systems to collect parameters showing the operation of heat networks covering heat production, network temperatures and flow rates
- Prepared optimisation studies worth £40,000 that enable KPIs around heat and carbon to be identified and delivered
