Sir Keir Starmer visited Vaillant’s UK HQ, to get a clearer understanding of its low carbon technologies and how it would help reduce the UK’s carbon footprint.
The Labour leader viewed Vaillant’s new heat pump line, where the aroTHERM Plus is being manufactured. The aroTHERM uses R290 refrigerant, and can provide heating and hot water in both insulated newbuild homes and older, less insulated properties.
Starmer said:
The transition to low carbon technology is an opportunity to be seized; for business, the creation of jobs, the ambitions of our young people, and to achieve energy security to keep bills down. It’s been invaluable to see Vaillant’s work developing heat pumps and advances in hydrogen.
To truly grasp the potential benefits, we need innovative businesses like Vaillant, backed by a clear government mission and working in partnership. We’re at a critical juncture for the clean energy sector, which if harnessed as the opportunity it is, will bring enormous reward to the whole country. It’s been invaluable to see work underway and meet people involved in making this change possible.
He was interested in the skills and job opportunities that arose from the new production line., and learnt that those skills had been developed through a partnership training programme between Vaillant and Chesterfield Technical College. He also spoke with those new in the industry about how their roles are helping progress the advances of heating in homes and also benefiting their careers in low carbon technologies.
Starmer and Vaillant’s management team discussed how the government and the industry can work together to ensure there is support to allow the right investment in production capacity, which will get the UK closer to the net zero targets.
Henrik Hansen, Managing Director at Vaillant, said:
We are always willing to demonstrate what we as a company are doing to ensure UK homes can benefit from effective, low carbon heating. This transition is exciting, but it will require long-term thinking, planning and support from government to ensure it is a success. Solid investment in skills, policy and infrastructure must be built into this. There is no silver bullet to the decarbonisation of heat and in the future there will be several technologies available, which can be reviewed for best fit and then designed to work effectively in each individual property. As the first boiler manufacturer in the UK to produce both boilers and heat pumps, we welcomed the opportunity to present the progress being made and to discuss the commitment required to make low carbon heating a reality.
