A UK Power Networks-led project will see a range of innovative technologies aiming to help low-income households in Essex in the transition to net zero.
UKPN’s SHIELD (Smart Heat and Intelligent Energy in Low-Income Districts) initiative aims to change the current approach to decarbonising heat and energy in consumers’ homes to make it more inclusive, ensuring no one gets left behind in the journey to Net Zero.
The SHIELD project, part-funded by a £82,000 Ofgem grant, is looking at new approaches for installing energy efficient technologies, with low-carbon heating alongside solar panels, wind generation, energy storage and electric vehicles. The project is designed to address the fact that currently, decarbonising heat and energy in homes is expensive and not inclusive, so SHIELD aims to design, develop, and test new cross-industry and community business models and mechanisms, so vulnerable customers can afford to decarbonise their heating and their energy.
The Thermify HeatHub, a “distributed data centre” and a heating system in a single unit, is amongst the SHIELD technologies. Thermify will be working alongside UKPN, Essex County Council, Power Circle, Citizen’s Advice Essex, Eastlight Community Homes, UK Community Works and Kensa Contracting to deliver a low-carbon suite of technologies for residents living in social housing.
Essex County Council Climate Czar, Councillor Peter Schwier said:
The SHIELD project is a brilliant example of how Essex County Council is constantly searching for and developing innovative ways to solve both climate and economic related problems. It is important that methods to reduce carbon emissions are made available to all to enable a smooth and just energy transition.
The HeatHub technology is being ramped up for commercial rollout next year, with plans for over 300 installs in 2024-25, alongside a range of public projects like this one, according to chief executive Travis Theune
The company expects to be offering public pre-orders in the fourth quarter of this year for installation later in 2024, he added:
Providing low-cost heating to vulnerable people and helping to reduce fuel poverty is central to our goals and we look forward to finding innovative ways to combine technologies with project partners.
Thermify’s system uses waste heat from a bank of computers in the HeatHub unit in a home, to provide hot water and heat, The electricity used to power the computers is thus used twice and is paid for by Thermify, the firm says. At the same time, it will generate new revenue from cloud computing. By using energy twice, it offers customers an affordable heating system and, if deployed widely, will help reduce the levels of fuel poverty that exist in the UK, the firm adds.
The Thermify model sees the company undertake computing services for data users, then those jobs are sent them out in smaller parcels, via data wire, to the HeatHub, which is leased by the householder. The computing is run in the home unit, with the otherwise “wasted” heat captured for use by the householder.
Thermify says it will provide IT clients with a cloud computing service that has ‘a positive impact on the environment while heating people’s homes.’
