King’s Cross to make its entire gas supply green

2,000 homes and 4 million square foot of office space in King’s Cross will now be powered exclusively on green gas. 

This move will reduce the predicted annual carbon footprint of the neighbourhood by 50%, saving an estimated 16,000 tonnes of CO2, equivalent to the average annual carbon emissions of around 1,600 Londoners.

The deal, which has been facilitated and managed by Optimised Energy will see 40,000MWh of green gas delivered to King’s Cross per annum from an Iona Capital owned plant.

The plant generates green gas from its anaerobic digestion facility in Scotland, where waste and residues are broken down to produce clean energy.

The energy centre will then efficiently generate heating and hot water using large boilers and Metropolitan King’s Cross will then distribute the heating, hot water and electricity to its occupiers and businesses using its estate-wide district energy network.

Green gas currently represents less than 1% of the UK gas market. It is hoped that this new deal will support the anaerobic digester facility to expand its operations and enable further investment in the future of renewable energy.

Claudine Blamey, head of sustainability for King’s Cross, said: ‘This is an exciting and significant step for King’s Cross and its journey to zero carbon. We are proud that we’re now able to serve our customers with green energy while keeping energy tariffs the same.

‘We know that the UK faces a significant challenge in providing heating for homes and businesses whilst also being able to deliver on its commitments to decarbonise, and we hope this will encourage more investment in the green gas sector.’

Alexander Todhunter, investment director at Iona Capital, added: ‘We are delighted Iona Capital has reached this deal with King’s Cross to supply sustainable energy to a prime London development. This is part of a number of initiatives we are working on across the portfolio to deliver certified green energy direct to end-users whilst giving long term energy price certainty for consumer and generator.’

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