Hemiko to invest £600m into Park Royal heat network

Old Oak & Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC) has appointed Hemiko as its partner to design, deliver, fund and operate a new low carbon heat network that will draw waste heat from local data centres to provide low-cost, low carbon energy to more than 9,000 nearby new homes and businesses.

It will be the first time in the UK that waste heat from data centre cooling systems has been exploited in this way.

Hemiko, formerly knowns as Pinnacle Power, specialises in urban heat networks for commercial, residential and mixed-use developments. It operates heat networks in Greenwich Peninsula in southeast London and is currently building a new network in Worthing.

The first phase of OPDC’s heat network is expected to deliver up to 95GWh of heat a year. The plans is for it to then expand over five phases between 2028 and 2040, serving the wider Old Oak & Park Royal regeneration area, where there are plans to build up to 25,000 homes over the next two decades.

In November 2023, OPDC was awarded £36m from the Conservative government’s Green Heat Network Fund and in October 2024 Old Oak & Park Royal was announced as one the UK’s first government-designated heat network zones.

Hemiko will invest £63m in the first phases, growing to around £600m by 2040.

OPDC chief executive David Lunts said: “OPDC’s innovative new heat network is leading the way in developing greener and cheaper energy for thousands of residents in west London. With heat network specialist Hemiko now confirmed as our delivery partner, we are excited to be working together to progress the design and delivery of our heat network and to delivering a cleaner, more sustainable energy supply for west Londoners.”

Hemiko chief executive Toby Heysham said: “By taking surplus heat from local data centres, we don’t need to burn gas in the middle of a city to heat people’s homes, with the right infrastructure we can take local waste heat and offer it to local people, while offering local jobs at the same time.

“There is enough surplus and wasted heat in London to heat the whole city - we just need heat networks to access it. With the announcement of OPDC’s heat network hot on the heels of the South Westminster Area Network (SWAN), London is leading the race to host this multi-billion-pound industry that will drive green growth in the UK."

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