Hebburn Minewater District Heating Project

The scheme involves the installation of a district heating system serving several Council owned buildings in central Hebburn, utilising the disused mine workings under Hebburn as a heat source. The installation of such a district heating scheme will reduce the Council's reliance on gas to provide heating and significantly contribute to the Council's commitment to its Carbon Reduction targets, and this scheme alone will provide a saving of 319 tonnes year saving. A separate contract has been awarded to undertake the drilling of two boreholes, and the construction of permanent abstraction and re-injection wells. The water source heat pump adopted in this project will be able to source heat from both the mine water as well as ambient air (via dry air cooler) in the event that the mines are found to be unable to provide a sustainable mine water heat source. The scheme will include the construction of a new Energy Centre that will include the water /air source heat pumps, filtration plant and heat exchangers, to harvest the mine water, and distribute it via the district heating network (approximately 300m) serving the Council buildings. The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is contributing 50% funding to the overall scheme.