Market Assessment of Innovative Finance for Low Grade Waste Heat Recovery

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Low grade industrial waste heat is widely found in industrial processes, and is recognised asan opportunity for revenue generation and reducing carbon impact. Many industrial plantsand processes produce heat at temperatures and quantities where conversion to electricity isviable. This electricity can be used or sold, paying back the investment in the equipment.The water utility and waste treatment market has a number of heat sources that couldpotentially be relevant for this application.Energy recovery technology is improving, with Organic Rankine Cycle systems in particulardeveloping in recent years. However, energy recovery is not widely adopted in the UK andEurope. The principal barrier to uptake is the length of payback. At 3-5 years, payback doesnot merit direct investment by plant operators – but may be viable (if structured correctly) forexternal investment.The project aims to research the energy recovery technologies available for converting lowgrade waste heat, and the new technologies in development that may make new, lowertemperature and smaller scale energy sources viable. It aims to identify priority industrialapplications and engage with heat producers. And the project aims to research potentialinvestors’ requirements. Finally, it aims to build a business case for investment in these newtechnologies by new investors.