Plastics processing company Rehau (Rehau / Germany; www.rehau.com) has signed an exclusive supply deal with PP pipe manufacturer Aquatherm Sales UK (Burgess Hill / UK; www.aquatherm-uk.com), enabling the German group to participate in significantly larger district heating schemes in the UK.

Aquatherm will supply PP-R (PP random copolymer) pipes with a diameter of 200-315 mm, which is larger than Rehau’s existing PE-Xa (peroxide cross-linked PE) "Rauthermex" and "Rauvitherm" pipes that are only available up to 160 mm. For any projects that require pipes larger than 160 mm, Rehau offers a steel-polymer hybrid solution, whereby the larger spine pipe would be supplied in steel and the small pipes coming off it would be made of PE-Xa.

The agreement with Aquatherm means that Rehau can now use the bigger plastic spine pipes with its PE-Xa pipework, offering the UK market a full polymer solution that is durable, requires no expansion bends and does not corrode.

Currently, only around 2% of the UK’s heat is supplied via networks, according to Rehau. The UK government has pledged GBP 320m (EUR 350m) of capital funding over the next five years to stimulate growth in the heat networks market. The first round of successful local authorities was announced in April 2017 when GBP 24m was allocated to nine projects.