DESNZ publishes first set of heat network zoning maps for England

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has published potential heat network zoning maps for England, more specifically:

• Birmingham

• Bristol

• Cheltenham

• Coventry

• Exeter

• Gateshead

• Greater Manchester

• Hull

• Leeds

• Leicester

• Liverpool

• London –

  Barking and Dagenham

  &

  Southwark

• Newcastle

• Nottingham

• Peterborough

• Plymouth

• Sheffield

• Southampton

• Stoke-on-Trent

• Sunderland

The boundaries are still preliminary and will be aligned with the upcoming heat network zoning policy. The new government is still due to respond to the consultation that was carried out earlier this year, meaning that any discussions about sector implications are speculative at this point.

techUK will be working with DESNZ to understand their expectations for potential heat sources and to clarify the next steps. To make these discussions as productive as possible, we ask members with data centres in the affected areas to review the maps and email Weronika.Dorociak@techuk.org if any of your sites are located within the mapped zones.

techUK has recently published a report on the topic of data centre heat export which outlines the industry’s position on this issue.