A Parliamentary policy briefing on heat pumps has added to calls for more education and more financial and policy incentives for both the public and installers to adopt the technology.
The POSTnote on heat pumps, which is a peer-reviewed digest of current research and interviews with industry stakeholders, underlines that heat pumps are technically suitable for most UK homes “if installed appropriately”. But, the researchers note, while the supply chain has significant growth potential the stakeholders indicate “it is currently constrained by a lack of consumer demand and government policy uncertainty”.
One of the key elements of the input from stakeholders is the need for a long-term strategic framework for heat pump adoption, highlighting three areas:
- making heat pumps the most economically viable heating option
- financial support for those who cannot afford to transition
- regulation to ensure installation quality and to phase out fossil fuel systems.
The authors conclude:
Stakeholders have raised concerns about the lack of long-term strategic policy direction on the role of heat pumps in decarbonising domestic heating.
The report also sets out the improvement in efficiency of air source heat pump (ASHP) technology in particular – the Energy Savings Trust’s research in 2009-10 found that ASHPs had a Seasonal Performance Factor (SPF) of 1.9, whereas the 2020-23 Electrification of Heat research recorded a significantly improved SPF of 2.8.
The authors note that the Boiler Upgrade Scheme was criticised in February by the House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee for its low uptake rate and that there is widespread agreement that the “amount and duration of funding is insufficient”, but they add that industry stakeholders have suggested that uptake is accelerating rapidly. They also add that the government responded to the committee with measures to increase uptake, alongside wider support to expand heat pump supply chains.
Energy Minister Lord Callanan told the committee that £30 million would be made available through the Heat Pump Investment Accelerator Competition, launched on 30th March, to strengthen and build resilience in the heat pump manufacturing supply chain. He said:
It is estimated that the competition will result in £270m of private investment in manufacturing facilities, resulting in up to 3,000 low carbon jobs and creating capacity to produce up to 270,000 heat pumps or components a year.
The POSTreport also adds that the Future Homes Standard, due in 2025, proposes to effectively ban fossil fuel heating in new builds, which is expected to provide a market of 150,000-200,000 homes per year, “where the dominant heating technology is likely to be heat pumps”. The authors conclude:
Phase out dates for fossil fuel heating in existing homes have not been set, but consultations on off-gas grid homes are awaiting a formal government response.
The authors identify a lack of public information as a major barrier to heat pump take-up. Polling, and interviews with industry and academic stakeholders, cite as a major barrier.
They note that there is evidence that knowledge sharing within communities can result in large increases in uptake of energy efficiency measures and that measuring and sharing real world performance and experiences of early adopters could improve public confidence. They add that consumers have expressed a desire for property-specific advice, covering their retrofit options, the likely costs and benefits, financing options, and how to find an installer – such advice is provided by Home Energy Scotland but availability across the rest of the UK is ‘variable,’ the authors say.
Incentivising people to install heat pumps at other trigger points in their life (such as moving house), rather than at the end of a boiler’s life, is seen by some stakeholders as a potential way to encourage uptake.
Reform of the energy market is acknowledged as a further way to encourage more heat pump installation – addressing the running costs of the technology by permanently reducing the price of electricity compared to gas is a common recommendation from stakeholders. But the report also adds that under the 1 July energy price cap, heat pumps with an SPF around 3, ‘which has been shown to be achievable with good design and installation’, have comparable running costs to gas boilers.
The authors also note that introduction of time-of-use tariffs is a potential incentive to use of the technology and have been shown in Jersey to have increased take-up.
The final potential barrier is installer adoption. It is well-known that there is not enough installer capacity to meet demand for heat pumps and among the initiatives, the UK Government is due to launch a Low Carbon Heating apprenticeship in September 2023, but it is acknowledged that demand from installers is currently low. The parliamentary researchers note that many stakeholders view MCS as overly bureaucratic and costly, and the Competent Persons Standard as not thorough enough but adds that MCS is currently consulting on streamlining the accreditation process and improving field-based compliance checks on installation quality.
The report adds that loss of earnings for installers could run into the thousands of pounds, whilst the current government grant is up to £500.
