For years, the UK’s energy transition has focused on one question: how do we generate cleaner energy?

In our latest Raven-i, we argue that the next phase of the transition is not about generation alone. It’s about infrastructure.

Every day, valuable heat from industry, data centres, power generation and wastewater treatment is wasted, while homes and businesses pay to create the same heat elsewhere. The result is a fragmented energy system that is more expensive, less resilient and more exposed to global energy shocks than it needs to be.

Using Greater Manchester as a case study, we examine how a proposed Heat Highway could connect heat sources with homes, businesses and public buildings, turning wasted energy into a valuable regional asset. Research suggests that excess heat from existing and emerging industries could meet the heating demand of around 85% of Manchester’s homes, while significantly reducing long-term energy costs.

A key theme throughout the paper is that great infrastructure should not lock regions into a single technology. Instead, it should create the flexibility to use the best available energy sources today while remaining ready for the technologies of tomorrow.

The report also explores how regional heat transmission networks are already delivering economic and environmental benefits elsewhere, highlighting Denmark’s TVIS network as an example of how strategic heat infrastructure can connect industry, communities and local energy resources at scale.

As Britain continues to debate the future of its energy system, the question is no longer just how we generate energy. It is how intelligently we use it.