The first district heating system built in the UK, with the UK's largest thermal store, the accumulator. It supplies heat to 3,256 homes, 50 business premises and three schools. Owned and managed by Westminster City Council.
It was designed into the estate from the beginning, 1950, originally using waste heat from Battersea Power Station, just a short under-water pipe away. When Battersea Power Station closed in 1983, a coal-fired boiler was built to supply the system with heat. This was converted to gas in 1989. Following a refurbishment in 2006 it now runs off two CHP engines and three gas boilers, all located in the Pump House in Churchill Gardens, presumably the low building behind the accumulator.
2025: The system is in urgent need of updating: “The PDHU pipework is decades beyond its design life and as a result, leaks are disruptive to residents, repairs are becoming increasingly expensive and insulation is of a substandard quality.”
Sources: Westminster, Wikipedia.
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