Multimillion-pound Thurso heating scheme could help fight against fuel poverty
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A multimillion-pound heating scheme being planned in Thurso could help people make "substantial savings" on their energy costs.
The project, which is proposed for Ormlie, would improve the energy efficiency of homes and businesses in the area and could include the UHI North, West and Hebrides campus, Dunbar Hospital and Thurso High School.
That is the aim of the Warmlie-Cosy Community initiative which was set up earlier this year. Secretary Bryan Dods said the scheme could also be extended to other parts of the town in the future.
He explained that funding has been obtained for a feasibility study to look at the different energy sources which could be used for the scheme while a community survey is to get under way today (Friday) to establish the level of interest and the potential heat demands on any system that is built.
Mr Dods, the Caithness Voluntary Group project officer, stressed the initiative is at a very early stage but said that if all goes to plan it could be under way by the end of 2024.
"The Warmlie project is notable in Scotland as it’s being driven from the community itself – projects such as this tend to rely on local authorities and companies initiating and driving them," said Mr Dods, who acknowledged the district heating system would take "millions of pounds to put together" but could be financed by grant funding and interest free loans.
He also pointed out there is "a lot of interest at Scottish and UK government level" in such initiatives.
Mr Dods, who claimed people could make "substantial savings in their monthly outlays" if the Thurso scheme goes ahead, would like local companies to benefit "as much as possible" from the project and stressed it would be "building infrastructure for the community".
"Warmlie was set up to try and deal with the unfair situation where many homes and businesses in the Ormlie area pay high prices for their energy because they’re off the gas grid. Our project has two main elements – providing energy advice and establishing a District Heat Network for the area.
"As we found out by speaking to residents, homes in the area typically use electricity to deliver heating and hot water, the cost of which has gone through the roof recently and which shows no sign of coming down substantially any time soon.
"Some people we visited are still using coal or smokeless fuel, another expensive and inconvenient option which is also very poor environmentally speaking. District Heat Networks have been successfully used to deliver reliable, reasonably-priced and green energy all over Europe for decades and are fast becoming popular in the UK as our fossil fuel use reduces," said Mr Dods.
The project can use multiple energy sources to generate heat centrally and distribute it round a neighbourhood.
"The beauty of a District Heat Network is that it’s endlessly expandable – if we go ahead with phase 1 in Ormlie there’s technically nothing stopping us making phase 2 the Pennyland or Mount Vernon areas, if there’s enough demand."
He emphasised that uptake of any heating offer will be voluntary.
Julie Calder, development manager of the Ormlie Community Centre, said: "Some of our residents were paying upwards of £500 a month for electricity through the past winter. It’s harsh expecting families on low incomes to pay that amount of money to keep the house warm, while getting the kids clothed and keeping food on the table.
"There are proven links between energy poverty, poor health and poor life outcomes, so anything we can do to help these people has to be a positive."
She pointed out that Local Energy Scotland granted funds to run a feasibility study. "Our consultants, Reheat Ltd, suggested that it would be wise to include the big energy users in the area in the study, so we’re looking at whether we could provide heat to the UHI campus, Dunbar Hospital and the high school as well as to domestic customers and other businesses in the area.
"It quickly became obvious that, if we supplied these big players, we could also offer our service to people in the Lower Ormlie, College Court and Juniper Drive/Primrose Avenue estates where we know there are interested homeowners," said Ms Calder.
Energy options being examined during the feasibility study include large-scale heat pumps, biomass and direct electrical heating of water using surplus wind farm power.
"We realise what we’re proposing is a huge undertaking, with substantial investment required and major works involved, but we’re determined that, if we do go ahead with developing a heat network, we’ll do it using proven technology and sound business principles," added Mr Dods.
