Thousands of homes in Kingston could soon take advantage of energy captured from sewage in a pioneering low carbon district heating trial that will channel heat recovered from a local sewage plant to a nearby council estate, it was announced today. Thames Water and Kingston Council announced this morning they have applied for capital funding from the government for the ‘poo power’ scheme, which they said would be able to supply up to 7GWh of low carbon heat annually to 2,000 homes. The partners touted the pioneering scheme as a model for low-carbon heating systems that could be replicated elsewhere in the UK, confirming they planned to ultimately extend the project’s reach within Kingston to deliver greater carbon savings across the borough. They said they were applying for funding to launch the trial after completing feasibility studies and design work for the project over the last two years that were backed by the government and Greater London Authority. Under the plans, heat is to be captured from the final effluent of the sewage treatment process at the Hogsmill sewage plant in Surrey and diverted to a dedicated waste-to-energy centre that will be built on site. The heat will then be concentrated and supplied to homes on the Cambridge Road Estate through a sealed network of pipes, they said.
Business Green 26th Feb 2021 read more »