The cash represents a major boost for Energetik, the council-owned company which has struggled financially in recent years, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

Energetik’s heat network pipes ready for installation across Enfield (credit Energetik)

Enfield Council has been awarded £18.6m by the government to connect its district heating network to eight schools.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero agreed to grant the money to support the council’s wholly-owned company Energetik to “replace end-of-life gas boilers in schools” and connect them instead to the growing heat network.

Oasis Academy, Heron Hall Academy, Capital City College, Waverley School, Edmonton County School, Winchmore School and St John and St James School will all be connected and supplied by Energetik via 12km of new pipes, expected to be operational by March 2028.

At a cabinet meeting last night (Wednesday 11th), senior Labour councillors also agreed an additional £1.6m capital loan from the council to Energetik to further support the project, along with £761,000 from the council schools’ capital budget.

Energetik’s aim is to create a 23km (14-mile) network of pipes around the borough that take waste heat from Edmonton incinerator and other energy centres to provide central heating for homes connected to the network. New developments such as Meridian Water and Joyce and Snells estates in Edmonton are due to be supplied by Energetik.

The project to connect schools is part of the council’s newly-amended business plan for Energetik which it said will enable the heat network to “accelerate decarbonisation, improve air quality, and generate long-term income for the borough, all while reducing financial risk”.

While the plan has not yet been published, in response to growing concerns over how a series of large loans to Energetik are being spent the cabinet agreed last night to publish the business plan within 30 days “to support transparency”, with further loans to the company “conditional on this publication”.

Council leader Ergin Erbil also asked Energetik managing director Simon Pollock on the “benefits” of schools being connected to the network. Simon said: “The big difference is that our technology will last twice as long as a gas boiler on site, [and] maintenance will cost nothing.

“The energy usage is around 20% less than a gas boiler to heat the same building and the energy source we’ll be using from 2028 will use 90% less carbon than a gas boiler. On top of that, even 75% less than a heat pump.”

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