A new project will harness naturally occurring heat from a river and use it to keep buildings warm in a town.
Suffolk County Council has been leading a heat network project since 2021 and just secured £10m from a government fund.
With the money, it will use the energy from the River Gipping to heat buildings across Ipswich.
Richard Rout at the council said there would be the potential to power 40 buildings in the first phase.
"This will be a significant project for Ipswich, one which the county council is proud to have been leading on for a number of years, and has now secured a successful funding bid," he explained.
"By taking energy from the River Gipping, there is the potential to provide over 35 GWh of heat each year to public buildings across Ipswich — enough to power around 40 buildings in the first phase, ranging from offices to community buildings."
He added that the council was in discussion with a number of potential beneficiaries, and the first buildings could be connected in 2028.