Identification info

Metadata Language

English

Character set

UTF8

Dataset Reference Date (Creation)

2014-04-01

Dataset Reference Date (Revision)

2023-11-20

Identifier

www.gov.scot / SG_HeatNetworkLocations

Maintenance and update frequency

As needed

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

• Energy resources

GEMET - Concepts, version 2.4

• heat supply

• energy supply

• energy demand

IPSV Subjects List

• Energy efficiency

Limitations on Public Access

Other restrictions

Other constraints

No limitations to public access

Use constraints

Other restrictions

Other constraints

Open Government Licence

Other constraints

Available under the terms of the Open Government Licence. The following attribution statement must be used to acknowledge the source of the information: Copyright Scottish Government, contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right (insert year).

Spatial representation type

Vector

Denominator

10000

Topic category

• Environment
• Economy
• Society

Code

S92000003

 

Code

EPSG:4258

Code

EPSG:27700

Distribution Information

 

Data quality info

Quality Scope

Dataset

Statement

The Heat Networks – Existing and Planned dataset is comprised of data from two sources:

- The UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s (DESNZ’s) Heat Networks (Metering and Billing) Regulations (HNMBR) dataset and

- Zero Waste Scotland’s Low Carbon Heat Database (LCHD).

The most recent data available is up to end July 2022 for the HNMBR dataset (though the majority of the HNMBR data included in the heat map is up to end December 2018) and January 2022 for the LCHD. This dataset is included as part of the Scotland Heat Map 2022 (released to local authorities in November 2023) and is an update of the heat networks data previously included in the Scotland Heat Map 2020.

The HNMBR dataset contains 1,110 records compared to 407 in the LCHD (386 of which are operational). The HNMBR is the primary data source used for analysis of district and communal heat networks, as it is more detailed and has much greater coverage than the LCHD. Networks that fall within the scope of the Heat Network (Metering and Billing) Regulations are required to notify the UK Government via the Office for Product Standards and Safety (OPSS), every four years. More information on the scope of the regulations and further details on the notification process is available on the UK Government website: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/heat-networks.

The regulations define district heat networks as follows:

- The minimum criteria for an installation to be considered a district heat network are 2 buildings being supplied with heat and at least 1 final customer. The heat source can be located inside one of the buildings that makes up the district heat network or in an external energy centre.

Communal heat networks are defined as follows:

- All communal heating serves only one building. The minimum size for communal heating is 2 final customers. Where a remote source is supplying a single building with multiple occupants this is also communal heating.

Since coming into effect, there have effectively been two cycles of HNMBR data. One cycle spanning from 2014-2018, and the other from 2018-2022. The 2022 heat map mainly uses the 2014-2018 dataset, as did the 2020 heat map. This contains notifications up to 31 December 2018. Some additional cleaning of the data has been carried out for the 2022 heat map to deal with a small number of cases where the UPRN was incorrectly locating the network in a different local authority to its postcode and some cases (though not all) of duplicate UPRNs. We have also included a small number of heat networks that are considered ‘new’ networks from the 2018-2022 cycle data (notifications up to end July 2022).

There are some issues with the quality of the 2014-2018 data. It is now more than 5 years old and may not accurately represent the heat network stock in Scotland today. It also does not track decommissioning of networks. Missing values in key fields such as heat output are prevalent throughout the dataset. However, we have not replaced this dataset with the 2018-2022 cycle data because of additional concerns about its quality. The newer data contains a much smaller number of notifications (networks) and has worse coverage for key fields. The reason for the smaller number of notifications is not apparent from the data, but this could be due to decommissioning of networks, or network operators failing to renotify.

It is not possible to determine the current operational status of the networks included in the HNMBR. This is because networks are required to notify when they first begin selling heat and then every four years afterwards. Therefore, it is possible that some may no longer be operational. In the absence of any other source of information, we have assumed that all networks included in the HNMBR dataset are operational.

The Low Carbon Heat Database (LCHD) is managed by Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) and was formerly referred to as the Heat Network Partnership (HNP) database, The HNP database recorded projects that were given support by HNP members (ZWS, Scottish Government, Energy Savings Trust, Scottish Futures Trust, Scottish Enterprise).

In late 2018 ZWS began to update the HNP database (which was last updated in 2015). The database was also reformatted to better reflect the information required by stakeholders and was renamed to the LCHD. Another data collection exercise was carried out in 2021. The data used in the 2022 heat map is from January 2022 and is an update of the LCHD data included in the 2020 heat map. Updated data will not have been provided for all networks that were in the database in 2020, and some of those records will still be the original HNP database record. Therefore, information on status (i.e., whether the network is operational or in the various stages of planning) may be out of date for some. Unlike the HNMBR data, the LCHD includes information on networks that are in development (in planning or under construction). It can include networks that fall outside the scope of the HNMBR.

The mapped data from the HNMBR and LCHD shows the point location of heat networks, both district and communal, that are either operational or in various stages of development. Networks are assigned xy coordinates in two different ways, depending on whether a valid unique property reference number (UPRN) is available. The UPRN can be for the heat source, the energy centre, the main heat load on the network or another building on the network. When a valid UPRN is available, it can be used to obtain coordinates from Ordnance Survey’s AddressBase Plus product. In cases where a UPRN is not available, but postcode information is, xy coordinates are assigned using the grid reference for the postcode centroid. These are available as part of the Scottish Postcode Directory (SPD) published by National Records of Scotland. Therefore, the heat network point data may not necessarily represent the exact geographical location, though it still indicates that there is a heat network within the postcode unit area.

There is some overlap between the two sources of heat network data. Therefore, it was necessary to identify networks which appeared in both and remove duplicates. Whilst every attempt has been made to do this, incomplete address information (including incomplete UPRN data) means that some may still be present. The HNMBR database includes more detailed information than the LCHD. Therefore, where a network exists in both sources, the HNMBR record was used, except in cases where the LCHD record was more up to date. There are 1,289 records in the final dataset, 912 from the HNMBR and 377 from the LCHD.

More information on the heat networks data can be found in the Scotland Heat Map 2022 User Guide at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotland-heat-map-documents/

 

Metadata

File identifier

56b522ac-518c-48fb-988f-2d9406a182bb XML

Metadata Language

English

Resource type

Dataset

Metadata Date

2024-03-27T16:31:20

Metadata standard name

UK GEMINI

Metadata standard version

2.3