Duke is a £220m investment vehicle established by Asper to support 1Energy in becoming the UK’s largest developer and operator of low and zero carbon (LZC) district heating networks in the UK. This greenfield platform aims to develop, build, and operate a portfolio of c. 10 LZC city-wide networks across the country, focusing on a range of low carbon heat production technologies including waste heat from industry, data centres, rivers and lakes, large-scale heat pumps, biomass, and geothermal.
Decarbonising heat is fundamental for the United Kingdom to realize its ambitious net-zero targets by 2050. The Committee on Climate Change has consistently included heat networks as part of the most cost-effective pathway for the UK to decarbonise heat in buildings, estimating that they could supply around 18% of heat demand from sustainable sources by 2050, a 9-fold increase from current levels. To deliver this growth, the UK requires major investment into energy centres, heat distribution networks, and customer buildings, an investment need estimated at between £60-80bn.
1Energy is an innovative and independent developer of UK sustainable district heating networks, led by co-founders Andrew Wettern and Jeremy Bungey. Since its inception in 2019, 1Energy has continuously innovated in this nascent and high growth sector, particularly focusing on technical and commercial solutions that remove barriers for existing buildings to connect to heat networks. Today, the company is actively developing a pipeline of over ten LZC projects and is continuously seeking new opportunities.
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Amongst projects initiated, the Bradford Energy Network (BEN) has the potential to become UK’s largest Air Source Heat Pump network and replace gas boilers in the city centre, reducing emissions by ca. 8kt of CO2 per year, and provide heating at a cost up to 30%. Construction works for the network in Bradford started in 2023 and 1Energy aims to start delivering low carbon heat to customers in 2025.
Access BEN’s website here.
