Community Energy Project
The Community Energy Project in Bewdley is dedicated to helping the town understand its energy usage and finding ways to reduce it. The project's overall goal is to transition the town from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources to decarbonise the community.
The River Severn flowing through our town is a potential heat source. The proposed solution extracts heat from the river using water source heat pumps. Heat and hot water is then delivered to connected homes and buildings via an insulated pipe network.
Community Engagement 9th September 24
Please click the image to view the presentation of our engagement event.
FAQs
Heat Network
A heat network is a system that heats many buildings from one central place. It's like having one big boiler for the whole town, but each building can still control its own heating. This system would be reliable and efficient for Bewdley. In Bewdley, the energy could come from the River Severn as an energy and water source, see “What is the source of heat for this network?”.
Building a heat network in Bewdley has many benefits:
- Lower Costs: It can reduce heating bills for homes and businesses.
- Price Certainty: It offers stable heating prices over time.
- Low carbon: It reduces reliance on polluting fossil fuels.
Overall, it provides a reliable, cost-effective, and green way to heat the town.
The source of heat for the Bewdley heat network being tested in this feasibility study is the River Severn. The study is exploring how to capture heat from the river's water to warm homes and businesses in the town.
The heat network in Bewdley works by capturing heat from the River Severn using special chambers and heat pumps. The heat is then transferred through insulated pipes to homes and businesses. Here’s a simple breakdown:
- Abstraction Chambers: These take water from the river in an environmentally sensitive way.
- Heat Pumps and Exchangers: These capture and transfer heat from the water.
- Insulated Pipes: These pipes carry the heat to buildings around Bewdley.
This system efficiently warms the town using renewable river heat.
The heat pumps could be powered by electricity from the national grid and solar panels. This combination provides a reliable energy supply with a renewable contribution. This is currently being explored in the Feasibility Study.
The heat pumps would use CO2 as the refrigerant. This will be used within a closed system, and is environmentally benign being non-toxic and non-explosive.
The scheme is currently at the pre-feasibility stage which will establish the potential technical and commercial viability of the project in outline.
The pre-feasibility study is funded by the Government’s Community Energy Fund (CEF) managed by Midlands Net Zero Hub (MNZH).
Bewdley Energy with support from Bewdley Development Trust, Transition Bewdley, who have hired expertise from consultants ICAX and Bioregional.
The full Feasibility study will be completed approximately six months after receiving stage 2 funding from the Community Energy Fund (CEF). This will follow submission of the Pre-Feasibility study and is likely to be in autumn 2025.
The scheme will come online upon completion of Phase 1, which will be one to five years from the feasibility study. Subsequent phases will follow based on the viability of each earlier phase.
Timescales
Community Benefits and Support
Please see “Why build a heat network in Bewdley?”
This scheme will benefit the community in several ways:
- Customer Savings and Energy Security: It will provide reduced heating costs and stable energy prices for residents and businesses and Bewdley School.
- Shareholders: Shareholders can expect returns on investment from a sustainable and profitable project.
- Community Funding to local projects
- Resilience through the development being independent to national networks and market volatility
Overall, the scheme aims to enhance economic and environmental sustainability while supporting local institutions like Bewdley School.
The funding package for the scheme is not yet known, but it will likely be a mix of grant funding, community investment, and potentially some private partners. This question will be developed in the early phases of feasibility and will become the focus once design and costs are developed in greater detail.
Community support is crucial because the scheme cannot proceed without it. Active backing from residents, businesses, and local stakeholders is essential for the success and implementation of the project in Bewdley.
The feasibility study is led by consultants ICAX and Bioregional.
The consultants were selected through a technical appraisal and competitive tender process.
The scheme's decision to proceed will be based on technical feasibility and economic viability.
At this early stage, the capital cost will be assessed based on the pre-feasibility design of the project and relevant comparable data gathered from similar initiatives.
Technical feasibility will be evaluated through:Assessment of proven technology and its application.Analysis of case studies from similar projects.Understanding the energy demand and Viability of potential energy sources, such as heat from the River Severn.
The Pre-Feasibility study will establish the potential viability of the scheme in outline, and this is required to enable the study to proceed to the Feasibility study which is subject to the provision of additional funding from the Community Energy Fund (CEF)
Feasibility (technical and economic evaluation)
Investing in the scheme
The funding package for the scheme is not yet known, but it will likely be a mix of grant funding, community investment, and potentially some private partners. To be notified of the progress of the scheme and the potential for community investment, register your interest on the website.
The feasibility study is funded by the Community Energy Fund (CEF) managed by Midlands Net Zero Hub (MNZH).
If the feasibility study shows the project is viable, the next step is commercialisation.
The capital cost could be funded through a mix of community shares, other investors, and up to 50% from the Green Heat Network Fund (GHNF).
Funding
Supply to Customers and Pricing
The pipes carrying the hot water will be fully insulated to minimise temperature loss and therefore not hot to touch.
Yes, the supply will be continuous, with backup systems in place to ensure reliability.
Customers will pay for their heat supply in the same way as they do with their present supplier
Potential customers can express their interest in being connected to the heat network at this stage. Please complete the survey on the website. Full registration of customers will follow at the Feasibility study stage.
Project information can be found online at Bewdleyenergy.org.uk or you can contact the project team via email: info@bewdleyenergy.org.uk. Also look out for pop-up information stands at local events and the Bewdley Museum.
Further Information
Heat Distribution Network
The proposed scheme will be phased as shown on the phasing map. Each phase will be assessed separately to determine their viability, and will be added to the overall heat network in sequence
The current plan is to locate the facilities at Bewdley School. However, options and other sites are still under consideration. More information will be available when the feasibility study has concluded.
Bewdley School has granted verbal permission to build the Centre on its premises. This is the current working plan.
Preliminary discussions with Wyre Forest District Council have shown that they are generally supportive of the scheme. Specific planning advice will be sought as part of the Pre-Feasibility study, and an outline application will be made as part of the Feasibility study.
The water will be abstracted using the gravel underlying the river bed, following Environment Agency (EA) regulations. There are several precedents for this method. Abstraction chambers will be installed in the river bank to allow the river water to be pumped to the heat pumps.
No, as they can operate underwater.
Water will be returned to the river through similar chambers to those used for abstraction
Yes, the water will be returned at a temperature approximately 3°C lower than when it was abstracted. Any excess heat will dissipate through the gravel layer, ensuring minimal environmental impact due to the small volume involved.
Gas boilers, thermal storage, and direct electric options are under consideration. These will be used during maintenance or breakdowns to ensure continuous operation of the heat network.
Energy Centre
Household Connections
No, at this stage of the study, the design of the network means it will not be necessary to replace existing household systems. Only connection pipework and Heat Interface Units (HIUs) will be installed. The network is designed to operate at the same temperature as existing systems.
A Heat Interface Unit (HIU) is a heat exchange unit that is typically about the same size as a boiler. It transfers heat from the central heat network into the heating and hot water systems of individual buildings or homes.
The Heat Interface Unit (HIU) regulates the temperature of water supplied to radiators and taps in individual buildings. It connects to the central heat network, where it transfers heat from the network water to the building's heating and hot water systems, ensuring the water is at the correct temperature for both heating and domestic use.
Yes - the river levels have been monitored for the last 10 years and the minimum flow is still much larger by an order of magnitude than the maximum flow required by the heat pump. All water used by the heat pump is returned to the river in a non-consumptive manner. Water is drawn from underneath the riverbed through porous pipes and directed into the chambers adjacent to the river.
A high river flow rate does not affect the performance of the abstraction process. The abstraction system is also designed to be submerged so is not impacted by flooding. Lower water temperatures will lower heat pump efficiency slightly but the heat pump refrigerant will be selected to operate at temperatures several degrees below the minimum to build in some margin.
Heat generation would be turned down during the periods of low demand in the hotter months of the year. Any surplus heat will be retained within the thermal storage vessels and the existing insulated network pipework.
It’s important to return the water to the river to avoid changes to the river. The water from the river is not pumped into the district heating network. The heat energy is extracted from the river and then returned to the river. The heating network is a separate system, connected only through heat exchangers that transfer the heat but do not permit any physical transfer of fluid.
River Severn
The System
Yes, the system is powered by electricity which will in part be produced in Bewdley through solar panels and the remainder from the Grid. Whilst some of the electricity in the UK is generated by gas fired power stations, the proportion of renewable energy generation is increasing over time, reducing carbon. Gas boilers will be used as a backup system but not used in normal operation.
It is important to note that electric systems operate at around 100% efficiency. So, for every kW of electricity you put in, you will only get a kW of heating back. So, district heating networks with a COP (Coefficient of Performance, a measure of efficiency) of 3.2 will provide 3.2 kW of heating for every 1 kW you put in. District heating networks also make it easier to use renewable energy sources like solar and wind, which can make the system even more efficient and reduces utility bills, only requiring a connection in the form of a heat interface unit to the network.
The hot water will be on demand, with the same household systems as currently used. Your home will be connected to the heating network, and you will only be charged for the heat transferred into your home through your Heat Interface Unit. The temperature of the supply water to your home will be 80°C from the heat network pipes, but the temperature of water in your home’s heating system can remain the same as it is currently. The heat network will have backup gas boilers. The household boiler would be replaced with the Heat Interface Unit. If a hot water cylinder is currently used, this would still be the case and the backup is the electric immersion heater within the cylinder.
Several abstraction chambers are proposed (at least 6 for the whole scheme). Similarly, up to 10 heat pumps are proposed for resilience.
This is not an air source heat pump. Air source heat pumps are being rolled out across the UK and are well established in Europe. There have been some issues in the UK due to bad installations by plumbers but this does not relate to the commercial scale heat pumps proposed for the energy centre.
The river is not suitable for traditional hydro-electric power generation, as there is not enough drop in height near Bewdley.
A valve within each Heat Interface Unit within each house will automatically modulate based on demand from the house, allowing more or less hot water to flow. The temperature of the network is proposed to be 80°C which would match existing gas boilers.
You can be solely a customer or solely an investor or both
The sum to be invested is open-ended and at the discretion of the individual investor.
Investment/Community Offer
Coordination/Delivery
We are planning to approach Elan Homes, the developer, to discuss any potential synergies with the project.
We are looking into other renewable sources of electricity and will establish how feasible a grid connection is for the residual power required as part of the feasibility study.
Other Questions
