Cory Environmental have been awarded £12.1 m through the Government’s £320 m Heat Networks Investment Project (HNIP). The £1.6 million commercialisation grant and £10.5 million construction loan will support the development of one of the UK’s largest heat networks, delivered by Vattenfall, to supply low carbon heat to a total of 21,000 homes.
Cory’s existing Riverside energy from waste (EfW) facility will provide heat for up to 10,500 homes in Bexley in the first phase of the proposed heat network.
A second EfW facility – adjacent to the existing one and part of Cory’s Riverside Energy Park which received planning permission from the Government in April 2020 – will supply an additional 10,500 homes.
Serving a combined 21,000 homes, the heat network will be among the largest in the UK exemplifying the type of ambition needed as the UK transitions to net zero.
Cory currently uses the River Thames to transport waste from the centre of London to its EfW facility on its fleet of tugs and barges, removing around 100,000 truck journeys a year from its congested roads. The completion of the Riverside Energy Park, which will be fully operational by 2025, will remove additional truck journeys, further reducing the capital’s reliance on landfill and delivering environmental and safety benefits. The waste that travels along the River Thames will serve the heat network.