The global renewables sector has largely directed its efforts toward development of new technologies to support the generation and storage of electricity. However, it is the use of heat energy, not electrical energy that dominates global energy requirements.
Supporting this need, one of the greatest assets of our TESS (Thermal Energy Storage System) is its heat output. Industry and utilities are reaching out to us due to our innovative approach to heat energy. By harnessing the stored energy directly to recover heat, we are able to offer a ‘product’ to heat users, including operators of heat networks across the globe.
Commonly known as district heating, heat networks were pioneered in Denmark and the United Kingdom, where they are now highly favoured heating solutions. Put simply, a heat network is typically created by the installation of insulated pipes underground, which carry heat (in the form of hot water or steam) to a multitude of end users connected to the network.
Heat networks can be supplied with heat from a number of sources, which currently include power stations, heat pumps and energy from waste facilities. 1414 Degrees’ solution can also supply a source of clean heat – in the form of hot air, steam or hot water, making us an ideal partner for a wide range of operations and organisations seeking to establish, maintain or grow a heat network.
Customers can include entire residential communities (district heating), commercial, industrial and retail operations, large scale manufacturing sites, hospitals and more – with greater economies of scale delivered as networks grow.
The possibilities, in terms of the size, scope and intricacy of networks, are vast, with recent statistics showing there are more than 17,000 networks – and a total of 492,000 connections – operating in the United Kingdom alone.
As heat is required year round for industrial and commercial uses, there is great potential to expand the global reach of heat networks beyond the typical cool climate users, – and we believe that 1414 Degrees has a role to play in supplying to these global markets.