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NETWORK / 24 / FEBRUARY 2018 DATA ANALY TICS T he appalling Grenfell Tower fire disaster has drawn attention to the pressures on social housing in the UK and the attempt of social landlords to improve the energy performance of their buildings, in this case with unintended consequences. Fuel poverty is still a prob - lem in social housing, particularly when gas central heating or district heating is currently not available. Three hundred million pounds worth of capital funding for heat networks, or district heating, was announced by HM Treasury two years ago as part of the financial settlement to 2020-2021. The stated ambition was to create up to 200 schemes to connect 400,000 homes and leverage £2 billion of private capital investment. The aim is to create the nucleus of a widespread heat technology that can ultimately survive without subsidy. To spend the money, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) formed an award scheme called the Heat Networks Investment Project (HNIP). The first round or "pilot" last year was focused on applications from local authorities. The next round, in autumn HEAT NET WORKS Making the case for heat network funding Ian Manders - UK energy policy advisor, Danish Embassy London, makes the case for appropriate consideration of social housing in UK government funding of efficient heat networks. There are at least half a million existing high-rise flats in the UK with old heating systems, which could be converted to modern heat networks. 2018, will be open to the wider public sector and private sector including social landlords, or registered providers. BEIS would prefer there to be one set of rules for all applicants. However, registered providers have a different legal and financial governance model and their schemes will be much smaller than local authority civic schemes. This may restrict applications. Reasons to target social housing and especially high-rise Public housing is 17 per cent of all house- holds, still a substantial figure. In 2015-16, nearly four million households in England were renting in the social sector, 2.3 million in housing associations and 1.6 million in local authority housing, which has a similar legal regime as a registered provider and financially separate from its ultimate owner. BEIS should consider high-rise estates with sub-optimal heating systems as a priority for modern heat networks. The widespread use of electric resistance heating in high-rise has resulted in unacceptably high bills for many tenants and residents. Aberdeen Heat and Power is an excellent example of a heat network replacing electric heating in social housing. The initial focus was on a cluster of 288 flats in four towers with night storage heaters, with a high incident of fuel poverty and "self- disconnection". The flats had wet radiators installed and the towers were linked to a central energy centre with gas CHP and