Installing heat networks to replace home gas boilers in urban areas is an investment opportunity worth tens of billions of pounds, an energy company has said. Swedish state-owned firm Vattenfall said it was looking to invest more than £1 billion in the infrastructure needed to deliver heat networks in five to eight cities in the UK by 2030. And meeting Government targets to have 20% of homes on heat networks by 2050 will require investment of £60-£80 billion over that time, Vattenfall Heat UK managing director Jenny Curtis said. Heat networks use a centralised source of heat – anything from a large heat pump drawing energy from water in a canal or disused mine to waste heat from a data centre – and pipe it to nearby buildings where it is used to heat rooms and water. Heat networks remove the need for individual heat pumps, boilers or hot water tanks in properties, providing heating and hot water from the piped heat through a heat exchanger which for a home is around the same size as small gas boilers and can be individually controlled. Ms Curtis said heat networks were often the lowest-cost low carbon solution in dense urban areas...