- Lead organisation: Utilita Energy Limited
- Location: Sunderland, Tyne and Wear
- Location category: Urban
- Heat Pump Ready grant value: £192,860
- Project partners: No formal project partners, however project is supported by Sunderland City Council and Northern Powergrid
- Project subcontractors: Gemserv
Project overview
The Utilita Energy Heat Pump Ready Programme plans to bring together Local Authorities, Distribution Network Operators, Social Housing Providers and homeowners to find clusters of suitable properties for heat pump deployment. This will be delivered through a collaborative approach, sourcing various funding streams and designing an approach to deliver targeted support to help unlock the behavioural change required to maximise the efficiency of heat pump installations.
This feasibility study will design a methodology to open up heat pump deployment to fuel poor households by examining opportunities to consolidate and simplify the end-to-end procurement and installation process for the customer, as well developing financial support and building fabric upgrade offers, to be based on property assessments and generation of accurate heat load profiles.
If successful in proceeding to Phase 2, funding will be utilised to assess the status of each property and determine if it is heat pump ready, whilst addressing any identified issues requiring remediation before a heat pump is a viable option through working with the Distribution Network and planning officers. This collaboration between different stakeholders will ensure alignment and remove the barriers to heat pump installations at scale.