A PARTNERSHIP has been formed to help ‘secure a low-carbon future’ for east Cheshire.

Cheshire East Council have teamed up with ENGIE, a global player in the development of renewable energy generation including geothermal.

The new company, which is aimed at promoting eco-efficient district heating networks in east Cheshire, will be called Cheshire Energy Networks Ltd.

When fully developed, district heating networks will help residents and businesses to benefit from cleaner, more affordable and secure energy.

District heating schemes deliver heat as hot water or steam to households through pipe networks. They are a low-carbon way of providing heat to households, replacing individual boilers.

Cllr Rachel Bailey, the leader of Cheshire East Council, said: “The establishment of Cheshire Energy Networks Ltd, in partnership with ENGIE, ensures that Cheshire East Council is in a strong position to secure a low-carbon future for the borough.

“I applaud the previous work completed to get the project to this stage, which ensures Cheshire East is in the vanguard of district heating in the UK."

District heating networks are particular successful in areas where there are large concentrations of people and buildings.

Similar schemes have led to very positive results elsewhere in the UK and in Copenhagen, where 97 per cent of homes and businesses are heated via similar networks.

Such networks will contribute to the UK government’s carbon reduction targets agreed at the recent global climate change conference in Paris.

Cllr Bailey said: “Cheshire Energy Networks is a further addition to the council’s portfolio of energy-saving initiatives and we look forward to working with ENGIE to develop a low-cost district heating infrastructure, exploiting carbon neutral or low-carbon sources.”

District heating networks can draw on energy sources such as geothermal, biomass or solar and have the potential to supply heat to between 14 per cent and 43 per cent of UK buildings by 2050.

Cheshire East is one of six areas in the UK which has a deep geothermal belt stretching from Crewe into the Potteries, offering the potential for some 4.6 million gigawatt hours of zero-carbon and low-cost energy, more than six times the national heat demand for Britain.

Cllr Rod Menlove, chairman of Cheshire East Energy Ltd, said: “We all have to play our part in reducing our dependency on fossil fuels and here the council is demonstrating its commitment to a long-term strategy for exploring and developing alternative energy sources.”