The Leeds PIPES heat network provides low cost and lower carbon heat to thousands of council tenants, nondomestic customers and the council’s own buildings. However, the network’s heat is largely provided through combustion of non-recyclable waste at Leeds’ Renewable Energy Recovery Facility (RERF). With a limited lifetime for the RERF and the need for even lower carbon solutions going forward, it is essential that Leeds City Council (LCC) develop a strategy towards a zero-carbon trajectory in line with their climate commitments.
Collaborating with LCC, Geosolutions Leeds explored the potential for alternate low carbon energy resources in Leeds to help define policy on the use and provision energy within Leeds-based heat networks. These included geothermal energy as well as other environmental energy sources including the River Aire and industrial waste heat and cooling needs.
Geothermal energy may be particularly useful as a heat store as well as source of energy, helping with seasonal peaks in demand, whilst supporting the integration of other energy sources. We will combine our geoscience, engineering and social science expertise to explore how the Leeds PIPES network could evolve and provide pathways for LCC policy for development of future heat networks across Leeds and beyond.
This project was funded in part by the 2023 – 2024 Research England Policy Support Fund and responds to Leeds City Council’s 2023 Area of Research Interest ‘Place’ specifically, ‘Sustainable energy’.