More than £15 million was awarded by the Government across 24 “innovation projects” to make low carbon heating like heat pumps cheaper and easier to install to accelerate the UK’s move away from fossil fuels.
The funding is part of the government’s £60 million Heat Pump Ready programme, which is developing “innovative solutions” for reducing barriers to the rollout of low carbon technology in homes and businesses across the UK.
The Government says the funding will create more than 300 jobs and comes alongside its Boiler Upgrade Scheme which provides grants of £5000 towards the cost of installing a heat pump and a zero rate of VAT for installing clean heating measures.
A total of 24 projects in England and Scotland have won funding in the second round of the Heat Pump Ready programme.
Heat pumps are a proven, reliable technology that uses cheaper renewable energy produced in the UK.
The Government says the key objectives of Heat Pump Ready are to reduce costs and increase the performance of domestic heat pumps, minimise disruption in homes during the process of heat pump installation and develop financial models that support an increase in heat pump deployment.
Innovation support is one part of the Government’s strategy to help bring low-carbon heating technology to the mass market and supports the target of installing 600,000 heat pumps a year by 2028.
Projects being supported by this stream 2 funding include one in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, that is using data from smart meters to help optimise the running of a heat pump in a household energy system.
As well as a scheme in Truro in Cornwall that is looking to develop efficient and ecological refrigerants that are used in heat pumps and a project in Thame in Oxfordshire looking at ways to reduce the costs of installing and running a heat pump.
The £15m stream 2 funding supports 37 small and medium enterprises across the 24 projects in England and Scotland, will support the creation of more than 300 jobs and will leverage £6.5m of private investment.
We are already bringing costs down through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme and slashing VAT to zero.
Heat Pump Ready is part of the £1bn Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP) and funding was announced in October 2021 alongside the Heat and Building Strategy.
Business and Energy Minister Lord Callanan said: “In light of rising global gas and oil prices, getting low-carbon heating technology into homes is a priority for this government as it will help households ditch the costly fossil fuels that are driving up bills.
“Heat pumps are a proven, reliable technology that uses cheaper renewable energy produced in the UK. We are already bringing costs down through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme and slashing VAT to zero, but by finding innovative ways to make them even cheaper and easier to install, we will help more homes see the benefits even quicker.”