
- Cost effective: As wholesale gas rates are cheaper than domestic rates and particularly if run together with a Combined Heat and Power plant, the cost of heat can be much lower than that generated by a domestic gas boiler
- Comfort & Convenience: Hot water and heating is available instantly “on-demand”
- Back-up boilers and cost effective 24/7 backup available to ensure that any heating system downtime is keep to a very minor level
- Safety: Boilers and other heat sources are kept in a separate plant room with appropriate supervision by the ESCo Company. Reduces the chances of gas leaks or fires from a number of different boilers distributed through-out the building
- No annual boiler maintenance fees
- “Regular” power stations suffer further losses during the transmission of electricity along hundreds of miles of High & Medium Voltage transmission and distribution cables – by localising the power production this loss is drastically reduced.
There are various ways that this can work, from using a regular gas boiler through to biomass boiler or any number of different energy plant combinations.
One of the most efficient is to run this in conjunction with a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Plant / Unit this is then referred to as a District Energy System or Scheme. In brief all thermal power plants give off heat during electricity generation. This can be released into the natural environment through cooling towers, flue gas, or by other means. A CHP captures some or all of the by-product heat for heating purposes to produce hot water for district heating with temperatures ranging from approximately 80 to 130 °C.
Advantages of District Energy Schemes using Combined Heat and Power Units (CHP):
- By using the heat dump that is lost in conventional power stations energy from a Combined Heat and Power Unit this has one of the lowest carbon footprints of all fossil generated plants.
- District Heating using the heat from a Combined Heat and Power unit is also regarded as the cheapest methods for cutting carbon by industry experts.

Funding for retrofit of District Energy Schemes
District Heating Systems require an upfront investment in to retrofit an existing site or a Greenfield site when not planned in from the beginning. This investment can be achieved as part of the original build or financed separately through a specially setup energy services company (ESCo – Energy Services Company), where end users are billed and savings achieved over the “business as usual” model which is used to pay back the capital investment.
Frontline operates as an ESCo and can facilitate agreements to allow financing, enabling the investment to take place in a structured and transparent manner.
Click here to view our District Energy Infographic


