Once London’s gateway to world trade, the Royal Docks – an area stretching 2.5 miles along the Thames east of Canary Wharf – has a proud history of innovation. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, its cutting edge features included refrigerated warehousing, electric lighting and railway lines that ran right to the dock edge. A century later, it is once again leading the way as it becomes one of the UK’s most exciting regeneration stories.
The east London neighbourhood of Silvertown is being transformed into the vibrant new heart of the Royal Docks. The project involves the restoration of the iconic Millennium Mills (a derelict flour mill) and the construction of about 6,500 homes plus workspaces, shops, restaurants, bars and a water sports centre – creating a new visitor destination for London. And, in a first for the UK, homes and businesses will be powered by a pioneering heating and cooling solution developed by E.ON.
Based on heat pump technology, ectogrid is a low-carbon energy sharing network designed for city districts. It was inspired by ectotherms – cold-blooded animals such as snakes and lizards, which regulate their body temperature using external sources.
The energy grid provides heating and cooling to homes and businesses by first tapping energy sources available locally, from air, water or the ground. Each property connected to the system then sends its excess heating or cooling to other buildings as needed, maximising use. Other sources of energy are drawn on only when all available energy from the low-carbon network has been harnessed.
E.ON estimates that by using ectogrid at Silvertown in place of traditional gas boilers, emissions will be 88% lower, saving about 4,000 tonnes of CO2 a year. The innovative technology won a Cop28 Energy Transition Changemakers award for energy efficiency.
“There are quite a few sites in this part of London that generate significant levels of excess heat – sewerage works, big factories and data centres,” says Daniel Bridge, a programme director with the Royal Docks Team, an initiative between the mayor of London and the mayor of Newham, which is overseeing the redevelopment. With all that spare heat going begging, the E.ON team has installed the infrastructure to capture and use it, reducing the need for alternative forms of heating. Right from the start, homes will be connected to the ectogrid – and the first properties are expected to be finished within months.
The Royal Docks, where E.ON is working in collaboration with the international real estate group Lendlease, is once again pointing the way to the future. “This is the way that many energy experts think we should be heating and cooling cities moving forward,” says Bridge. As well as being more sustainable than traditional heating, Bridge says that ectogrid “has the potential to create cost savings over time because using excess heat is cheaper than generating new heat”.
Tony Poole, head of business development for heat networks at E.ON UK, says Silvertown will have a host of other benefits. He believes it will inspire green job creation, contribute to energy security, reduce levels of fuel poverty, help to improve air quality, and be a catalyst for economic development. “Making energy more affordable and sustainable is a critical element of growing the UK economy – and it cannot be achieved without an ambition to deliver huge societal benefit too,” he says.
While it’s a first for the UK, the technology is already being used in sustainable projects across Europe, such as the Milan Innovation District, in Italy, or Medicon Village in Lund, southern Sweden.
Bridge says that the use of ectogrid at Silvertown is an inspiring example. “This is a really significant move forward for the UK because at the moment I don’t think there’s another project on this scale which shares residual energy between buildings to heat and cool 6,500 homes, through this amazing new technology that E.ON has developed,” he says.
“Having projects that you can point to is important because when something’s very new and innovative everything is trickier because it’s an unknown,” he adds. “We want the Royal Docks to be a test-bed, we’ve set up the right kind of public-private partnership between E.ON, Lendlease and ourselves to enable these kinds of innovations to be scaled.”
Find out more about E.ON’s pioneering work to create a more sustainable world
