Waste water could help warm buildings in Inverness
SSE Energy Solutions and Scottish Water Horizons plan to create a district heating system in Inverness
- Published
Heat from waste water is to be used to warm buildings in Inverness.
Water that drains from washing machines and showers can be at temperatures of 18C as it passes through sewers, according to Scottish Water Horizons.
It is collaborating with SSE Energy Solutions on a project to extract thermal energy from waste water produced by thousands of homes in the Inverness area.
The energy would be used in a district heating system to warm a number of buildings in the city's Longman area.
The project is at the development stage, but is expected to be up and running by 2028.
Donald MacBrayne, of Scottish Water Horizons, said the scheme offered an alternative to fossil fuels.
He said: "Dishwashers, washing machines, showers, baths, water used in cooking, it is warm or hot when you discharge that to the drain.
"We are extracting thermal energy from something that is already warm and putting that warm temperature into a heat pump to boost it."
Highland Council had considered using a similar type of scheme to capture heat from waste water to warm Inverness Castle.
It had proposed redeveloping a defunct public toilet block below the castle as a waste water heat recovery centre.
But it was found that the closest sewer did not to have sufficient flow rates to make the system work.