Identification

Title

Heat Network Locations (Existing and Planned) - Scotland

Abstract

The Scotland Heat Map provides the locations of existing and planned heat networks. Both communal and district heat networks are included. Data about each network includes, where available, heat capacity size category, network name, status (either ‘operational’ or ‘in development’) and the main technology used (for example, ‘boiler’). There is only one point location for each network, the data does not show all connected properties or pipe layouts. Networks can serve domestic properties, non-domestic properties or a mixture of the two. Heat networks have the potential to reduce carbon emissions from heating buildings. Alongside other heat map datasets, information on existing and planned networks is used to identify further opportunities to reduce carbon emissions. For example, by connecting more buildings to an existing network or by replacing the energy source with a nearby lower carbon alternative. Data on heat networks comes from two sources. These are: the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’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. More information can be found in the documentation available on the Scottish Government website: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotland-heat-map-documents/

Resource type

dataset

Resource locator

https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotland-heat-map-documents/

protocol: WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link

name: Scotland's Heat Map

description: Reference material

function: information

https://heatmap.data.gov.scot/getows.ashx?ms=mapsources/OGC

protocol: OGC:WMS

name: Heat_Networks_1

description: District/Communal Heat Networks

function: information

https://heatmap.data.gov.scot/getows.ashx?ms=mapsources/OGC

protocol: OGC:WFS

name: :Heat_Networks_1

description: District/Communal Heat Networks

function: download

https://heatmap.data.gov.scot/downloads/Heat_Networks_1.csv

protocol: WWW:DOWNLOAD-1.0-http--download

name: CSV Download

description: Heat Networks (Existing and Planned)

function: download

Unique resource identifier

code

SG_HeatNetworkLocations

codeSpace

www.gov.scot

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

environment

economy

society

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Energy resources

originating controlled vocabulary

title

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2008-06-01

Keyword set

keyword value

heat supply

energy supply

energy demand

originating controlled vocabulary

title

GEMET - Concepts, version 2.4

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2010-01-13

Keyword set

keyword value

Energy efficiency

originating controlled vocabulary

title

IPSV Subjects List

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2020-11-18

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

-8.80

East bounding longitude

-0.71

North bounding latitude

60.87

South bounding latitude

54.63

Extent

Extent group

authority code

code identifying the extent

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2014-04-01

date type

revision

effective date

2023-11-20

Frequency of update

asNeeded

Quality and validity

Lineage

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/

Conformity

Conformity report

specification

title

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2010-12-08

degree

false

explanation

Data format

name of format

WMS

version of format

1.3.0

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Limitations on public access

Constraint set

Limitations on public access

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).

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

Heat Data Analyst

organisation name

Scottish Government

full postal address

5 Atlantic Quay, 150 Broomielaw

Glasgow

G2 8LU

United Kingdom

email address

heatmap@gov.scot

web address

https://www.gov.scot/

protocol: WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact

contact position

GIS Analyst

organisation name

Scottish Government

full postal address

Victoria Quay

Edinburgh

EH6 6QQ

United Kingdom

email address

GI-SAT@gov.scot

web address

https://www.gov.scot/

protocol: WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata date

2024-03-25T16:31:50

Metadata language

eng