Over £9.7 million funding awarded to High Density Deployment projects as part of Heat Pump Ready

High Density Deployment stream will support the development and trial of solutions and methodologies for the optimised deployment of domestic heat pumps at high-density.

Overview

Heat Pump Ready, Stream 1: Phase 2 has awarded a total of £9,746,535.60 to 4 projects across Great Britain. Stream 1: Phase 2 projects will complete by 31 January 2025. A summary of Stream 1: Phase 2 projects are provided in the table below.

LocationProject titleLead organisation
Oxford, OxfordshireClean Heat StreetsSamsung Electronics UK Limited
BristolBristol Heat Pump ReadyBristol City Council
Fenland, CambridgeshirePACE Financing for Heat Pumps in Rural CambridgeshireCity Science Corporation Limited
Cherwell, OxfordshireProsumer Model for Heat Pump Deployment in CherwellCity Science Corporation Limited

Oxford, Oxfordshire

  • Location category: Urban
  • Project title: Clean Heat Streets
  • Lead organisation: Samsung Electronics (UK) Limited
  • Contract value: £3,206,448.63
  • Project partners: Oxford Brookes, University of Oxford, GenGame Limited, Oxfordshire County Council, Oxford City Council, SMS Energy Services Limited, Scottish and Southern Electricity Network, Alto Energy Ltd and Passiv Uk
  • Project subcontractors: Rosehill and Iffley Low Carbon

Project overview

Oxford has an ambition to become a net zero carbon city by 2040 – ten years ahead of the Government’s targets. To do this over 30,000 air-source heat pumps will need to be installed across the city by 2040. The Clean Heat Streets project aims to explore how key barriers to heat pump uptake can be overcome by exploring solutions on a street-by-street basis, rather than an individual home approach.

The project builds upon the work of a six month feasibility study which developed an innovative local area energy mapping approach to identify suitable homes for installing heat pumps and explored the key barriers to heat pump uptake in the Rose Hill area of Oxford. In Phase 2 the project will initially recruit show homes who will have a heat pump installed. Show home owners will then hold open days for their neighbours to increase interest and get more people to sign-up. All recruited homes will then have heat pumps installed, and all residents will receive a full support package to help them through the installation process, and to ensure the heat pump is set-up to work optimally for their home.

By working to streamline the installation process, and through the economies-of-scale inherent in a street-by-street approach, the Clean Heat Streets project will be able to offer a lower installation cost to the homeowner. The project will use Smart Tariffs combined with smart scheduling to show how heat pumps can be used to save money on energy bills compared with gas heating. It will also work with the Distribution Network Operator (SSEN) to explore how a large number of heat pumps can be installed within a particular area without causing problems to the network– for example, by causing very high peaks in demand for electricity on winter evenings.

By reducing the upfront and running costs, Clean Heat Streets aims to provide an answer to the common question: “why should I get a heat pump if getting a new gas boiler is easier and cheaper?”

Bristol

  • Location category: Urban
  • Project title: Bristol Heat Pump Ready
  • Lead organisation: Bristol City Council
  • Contract value: £2,925,450.72
  • Project partners: Centre for Sustainable Energy and The Green Register
  • Project subcontractors: Buro Happold, Veritherm, Build Test Solutions, Sustainable Westbury on Trym, Bristol Energy Network and CIG Consultants

Project overview

Bristol Heat Pump Ready is a collaborative initiative to develop a UK wide approach to stimulate mass uptake of heat pumps and deliver on our national carbon targets, but with a local focus.

The outputs will ensure affordability, quality and confidence. It will develop a service model which is fully replicable UK-wide. New approaches to establishing the right product for the right home will be developed. Innovative planning using the latest in digital twin technology will help enable our electricity networks to be readied for the transition to a zero carbon future. New methods of training will be developed to encourage and support the development of a skilled workforce in the supply chain which will create jobs. Community engagement will be at the heart of our approach bringing the industry to the consumer and ensuring consumers have everything they need to make the decisions they need to, in decarbonising their homes.

Fenland, Cambridgeshire

  • Location category: Rural
  • Project title: PACE Financing for Heat Pumps in Rural Cambridgeshire
  • Lead organisation: City Science Corporation Limited
  • Contract value: £1,815,391.09
  • Project partners: Peterborough Environment City Trust, Cambridgeshire County Council and Fenland District Council
  • Project subcontractors: Lendology, Growth Guides and UK Power Networks

Project overview

The project known as “Heat Pump Ready” in Fenland, Cambridgeshire, aims to take a holistic approach to heat pump deployment by improving all stages of the consumer journey from initial awareness through to aftercare. It is a local authority backed approach which will build trust with consumers. It will have an innovative financing offering to help overcome the high upfront cost of heat pumps, and a seamless web platform that eliminates barriers to uptake. The platform will streamline the consumer journey by providing a single point of call for guidance, arranging a suitability survey and booking the heat pump installation.

Key activities include developing and building the web platform, conducting hyper-local customer engagement, procuring a team of coordinated installers and service providers, and working with the local Distribution Network Operator (DNO) to develop new processes to enable the bulk connection approval of heat pumps.

Cherwell, Oxfordshire

  • Location category: Urban with significant rural
  • Project title: Prosumer Model for Heat Pump Deployment in Cherwell
  • Lead organisation: City Science Corporation Limited
  • Contract value: £1,799,245.11
  • Project partners: Oxford County Council, National Energy Foundation and Scottish and Southern Electricity Network
  • Project subcontractors: Growth Guides, Lendology and TrustMark

Project overview

The project known as “Heat Pump Ready” in Cherwell, Oxfordshire aims to take a holistic approach to heat pump deployment. It is based on a community-focused prosumer model approach to energy generation, alongside an innovative finance offering and a seamless One Stop Shop service that eliminates barriers to uptake.

Key activities include developing and building a digital One Stop Shop for energy efficiency that combines heat pumps, onsite generation and retrofit. The project also employs a hyper-local customer engagement strategy, will procure a team of coordinated installers and service providers, and works with the local Distribution Network Operator (DNO) to develop new processes to enable the bulk approval of heat pumps.