Hospital gets low-carbon heating from data centres

Developers 1Energy said Milton Keynes University Hospital had signed on as its "anchor customer"

Buildings in a city will be provided with low-carbon heating from data centres in a new £95m scheme.

Milton Keynes University Hospital will be the first place in the city to benefit from the heat network by developers 1Energy.

It involves taking wasted heat from data centres and from an energy centre located in the north of the city that will be powered by heat pumps.

Jeremy Bungey, executive director of 1Energy, said their mission was to de-carbonise heat and the Milton Keynes Energy Network was "a vital step in that journey".

The project has received £17.6m in funding from the government's Green Heat Network Fund and has secured more than £78m of private capital.

Tony Marsh, director of estates and facilities at Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said: "This partnership will allow us to cut carbon emissions significantly while ensuring our heating infrastructure is resilient and future-ready."

Heat will be transported along a 20km network of underground water pipes to provide heating for buildings in Milton Keynes (pictured)

1Energy said 100 gigawatt hours of energy would be generated through the network each year, equivalent to the heat needed for 20,000 homes.

It will initially heat 74 large buildings by the end of 2027 with longer term ambitions to start heating households.

The developer said the Milton Keynes Energy Network would help to cut customers' reliance on fossil fuels while supporting both the NHS and the city's ambitions to reduce net carbon emissions to zero.

It said the scheme would cut 15,000 tonnes of emissions a year - the equivalent of planting 238,000 trees - because of the 75% reduction in heating emissions for the connected buildings, compared to gas boilers.

Mr Bungey said that as well as delivering efficient, low-carbon heating it was "an example of how we can re-purpose waste heat into community value, powering a cleaner, healthier, and more sustainable future."

The energy centre that will help to provide heat to the network will be located adjacent to Linford Wood.

It will be powered by large air source heat pumps, which extract heat from the air and turn it into useable heating - like a fridge in reverse.