The £24million city centre landmark was the trophy piece of a new heat network and a major part of net zero plans. After failing on emissions and running at a loss, what exactly went wrong?
Operational since 2021, the architecture award-winning Tower of Light — dubbed by locals varyingly as the ‘people’s boiler’ or ‘Granada Familia’ — was seen as a huge milestone in the city’s emissions reduction mission. It is now at the centre of controversy after details emerged that the project had to be ‘brought back from the brink’ after running at losses of £1.3million in its first 24 months, with another negative performance expected from the third financial year.
According to Cllr Richard Kilpatrick, the lack of business plan for the network was a clear problem, leading to a £1.5million bail out paid for through the public purse (which the council will reclaim over a period of time). However, the choosing to press on with the us of gas backed by the Renewable Gas Guarantees of Origin [RGGO] scheme was an equally grave error.
At the University of Manchester, the Tyndall Centre for Climate Research is widely considered one of the foremost organisations of its kind in the world. In the three years it took to establish the heat network, technology moved so quickly the institution no longer recognised RGGO accredited fuels as positive contributors to net zero. Manchester City Council did seek advice on what to do, but crucially not from the Tyndall Centre.
Adding to the controversy, efforts have been underway to switch energy sources, and identify a fuel which is compliant with the Tyndall Centre’s recommendations. However, policymakers have opted to keep this decision-making process behind closed doors.
While advocates have claimed this is in a bid to allow discussions to ‘flow’, critics have suggested elements of the conversation — including the practicalities of how the project went so wrong — should be in the public domain.
‘I do not think it does the council any good for the council to say ‘here’s a brief statement and we will get into the crux of what’s gone wrong and what we will do about it [in private],’ said Cllr Kilpatrick. ‘I think we need to do better. Some of what’s in part B [of the meeting, held in private] is not commercially sensitive, it is just what happened.’
‘It’s about the flow of discussion, but when we come back in the next meeting… we can publicly declare elements of this,’ Manchester City Council’s Sarah Narici responded. ‘I want to have a discussion flowing without it being stopped and started. That’s why there’s a lot in B, but hopefully we can transition to having more in part A.’
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