The cash was raised thanks to the Clean Growth Fund, Eurazeo’s Smart City fund, and Aviva Ventures. The trio join existing investor Copley Point Capital in the 12 year old company.

Cheltenham-based Rendesco works with property developers including Cala Homes & Telford Homes to install low-carbon, networks based on ground sourced heat.  It also operates networks which supply clean heat and hot water to over 8,000 homes nationwide.

As Britain’s third largest source of CO₂ emissions, ridding carbon from heating buildings is a critical challenge.  Rendesco says it is at its forefront.

Today’s new investment comes Whitehall’s closing earlier this year of final consultations on the Future Homes Standard. Its final measures will underpin the incoming government’s plans to decarbonise home heat, including banning from next January the installation of gas boilers in new homes. Similar legislative measures are also driving decarbonisation across Europe.

The cash will accelerate Rendesco’s growth plans, aimed at providing a low-carbon alternative to gas grids and cutting consumers’ bills.  Part of the money will be directed at higher tech, yielding cleverer, more consumer-focused systems to manage home energy.

The new investment is separate from, but complementary to, Rendesco’s joint venture with Last Mile Heat.  Rendesco’s new build home solutions are owned by Last Mile Heat, enabling house builders to install ground source heat solutions in their developments at a considerably lower cost than with other low-carbon heat sources.  The joint venture has already developed a pipeline of £150m worth of clean heat infrastructure, boosting futureproofed heating of dwellings.

Rendesco’s founder Alastair Murray said: “I am pleased to welcome Clean Growth Fund, Eurazeo & Aviva Ventures as investors in Rendesco.

“This funding means Rendesco is incredibly well capitalised, in parallel to the significant capital available to deploy into capex costs via Last Mile Heat.  Their collective expertise and support will be invaluable as we pursue our ambitious growth plans, rapidly expanding our clean heating solutions to reach millions of homes.”

Susannah McClintock of specialist investors the Clean Growth Fund enthused: “Decarbonising heat is critical to achieving Britain’s Net Zero targets. Rendesco’s heat network solutions provide a cost-effective, efficient route to delivering the low carbon heat required for the transition away from gas to renewables. This investment aligns with our commitment to empower early-stage entrepreneurs to tackle the climate change crisis.”

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Under plans approved by Worthing Borough planners, heat network developer and operator Hemiko – the rebranded Pinnacle Power – will begin construction this July on its £500 million piped heat project.    £7 million of that funding comes from the national government’s Heat Networks Investment Project.

Expected to be operational by summer 2025, the network’s first stage will link Worthing’s Town Hall, hospital, Assembly Hall, museum, its Connaught Theatre and Portland House.  A connection to every building in the town is earmarked for 2050. By then 500 new local jobs are expected, 40 of them created in the project’s first five years.

The scheme’s backers calculate that first phase will save more than 3,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, the equivalent to taking 2,000 cars off the roads.

Worthing’s layout puts it, according the Office of National Statistics, in the top fifth of most densely populated English local authorities, thus favouring a network’s efficiency and ease of reach.

Figures from the 2021 census reveal the town’s population as both growing and ageing.  The last count showed total inhabitants rising by 6.4% since 2011, with 42.9% of Worthingtonians aged 50 and over, up from 39% a decade earlier. The town’s median age of 44 years is now four years older than England’s average of 40 years old.

The Worthing Heat Network was identified in 2019 in the borough’s Carbon Neutral Plan as the most economic and efficient way to decarbonise Worthing’s Civic Quarter.

Connected buildings will in consequence be able cut carbon emissions related to heating by as much as 90%.  The net’s initial driver will be air sourced heat pumps located at the network Energy Centre. More sources of locally available, unused heat will be brought in over time.

Developer Hemiko is planning to roll out £1billion of networks nationwide this decade.  It says Worthing is already its fourth project in West Sussex alone.

CEO Toby Heysham said the project follows two recent projects in south London.

“We’re incredibly proud to have been selected as the borough’s partner. Worthing Heat Network be an invaluable piece of infrastructure for the local community, not only because it will improve public health, but it will also offer jobs, apprenticeships, and a hub for innovation and investment into the town.

Law firm Burges Salmon advised the borough on design & ownership of the planned network.  In March it published its optimistic assessment of heat networks’ potential to speed Britain towards Net Zero.

From the firm’s Clean Heat practice, director Emma Andrews said Worthing highlighted the huge opportunities which district heating networks present in allowing local communities to access greener heat on a town-wide scale.

Wilde about being earnest 

“Our experience in clean heat and energy regulation means we’re well positioned to advise project sponsors, investors, and developers across both the public and private sectors”, Andrews added.

For the government, energy minister Lord Callanan said: “Ambitious projects like Worthing’s are why the UK is a world leader in reducing emissions.

“We awarded over £7 million to Worthing Borough Council to help get the project off the ground”, the minister went on.  “I’m pleased to see they now have a partner in Hemiko to deliver a scheme that will benefit the whole town by delivering cheaper energy bills and lower carbon emissions. We have invested more than £500 million since 2019 to transform this sector.”

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Twelve piped heat grids, including across London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Excel Centre in Docklands and the prestigious Battersea Power Station retail & residential complex, pictured, were sold to new investors at the end of last year.

The chain as sold was quantified at 432MW of heating capacity, 117MW of heating and 67MW of electricity.  Pipelines under Edinburgh’s St James’ Quarter, and in Birmingham, Coventry, Newcastle, Leicester and Southampton complete the portfolio.

Bring Energy will focus on accelerating the delivery of sustainable city-scale heating and cooling, optimising its existing networks, enhancing customer service, and decarbonising its portfolio.

Its first project is a large-scale water source heat pump installation, designed to recover wasted heat from cooling processes at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Backed by international and UK investors, Bring Energy is hoping to profit from energy ministry D-ESNZ’s favouring of the sector’s low-carbon technology.

The government’s Energy Security Bill published in November provided provisions for the expansion of  district networks, including the powers for government to implement heat network zoning in England and to make heat networks the first option for heat supply for new and existing buildings covered by those zones.

The bill includes a Green Heat Networks Fund (GHNF), a three-year, £288 million source of capital grants, supporting the commercialisation and construction of new low and zero carbon heat networks.

Also known as district heating, heat networks supply heat from a central source to consumers, via a network of underground pipes carrying hot water. This avoids the need for individual boilers or electric heaters in every building.

“Heat networks could provide 20% of UK heat by 2050, up from around 3% today, and are critical to enhancing energy security and achieving net zero”, Bring Energy’s executive chairman Richard Burrell observed.

“We want to bring low-carbon heating and cooling to cities across the UK and work with local authorities, developers, and communities to accelerate growth of city-scale networks.”

Burrell’s earlier career includes founding and floating listed energy companies including AMP Clean Energy, a provider of distributed heat and power.  He is also non-executive chair of Esken Renewables, claimed as the UK’s biggest supplier of biomass feedstock, and a director of Mathieson Capital Investment Management.

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