District Heating Cardenden

The District Heating Cardenden project aims to establish a district heating network in the Cardenden area, delivering affordable clean heating and hot water to homes and businesses in the town sourced from renewable and low carbon sources. The project aims to build on previous works undertaken by the Association to design, build and operate its own combined heat and power plant and heat network.

The project proposes to establish a low-carbon, centralised system for providing heating and hot water to buildings within the local area via a network of pipes. This system will offer several benefits, including:

• Reduced carbon emissions and improved air quality: By utilising a low-carbon heat source, the project will significantly cut greenhouse gas emissions compared to traditional individual mains gas boilers.
• Increased energy efficiency: District heating systems offer higher overall efficiency than individual boilers, leading to lower energy consumption.
• Enhanced comfort and reliability: Consumers will benefit from consistent and reliable heat supply with minimal maintenance requirements.
• Economic benefits: The project will create jobs in construction, operation, and maintenance, while also boosting local business and resident benefits through reduced energy costs.
• National targets: The project will help address national heat decarbonisation targets and help the Association meet energy efficiency standards and obligations for our homes including the Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing and Social Housing Net Zero Standard which require all our homes to have 'zero emission' heating by no later than 2045.

The project aims to adopt the principles and approach utilised by many existing district heating schemes such as those in Scandinavia to deliver affordable prices for customers.