Sector needs strong policy signals to reach heat pump goal

The government needs to set out a strengthened policy framework if its ambition of installing 600,000 heat pumps a year is to be achieved, industry voices have warned.

Welcoming the prime minister’s announcement on his 10-point plan for the green industrial revolution Eon chief executive Michael Lewis said the target will be a “massive but necessary step” to ending reliance on gas for heating.

Lewis said: “The government’s commitment to installing 600,000 heat pumps each year by 2028, leaping from about 20,000 installs each year at the moment, will be a massive but necessary step to ending our reliance on gas for heating. Getting there will require a strengthened long-term regulatory, tax and financial framework to leverage the tens of billions of investment required.

“We cannot forget the end customer and their role in transforming almost every part of our daily lives – this transformation must be done in a just way, meaning the burden of cost does not fall proportionately greater on those who are least able to afford it.”

Eon believes the government should now set out a strong regulatory signal that old technology will be phased out by a certain date, with tax aligned to drive the right behaviour, as well as strong incentives for early investment in the new technology.

Its main recommendation is to extend the green homes grant and combine with the proposed successor to the renewable heat incentive (the clean heat grant from 2022) to form a comprehensive home upgrade grants scheme with £3 billion a year for this parliament at least.

The scheme should be flexible and open to primary measures including insulation and heat pumps, but also solar and battery and other things that will make the electricity system more flexible and thus meet net zero most efficiently. It should also complement ECO and not work in competition to it.

Furthermore, the company believes a clear date should be set as to when fossil fuel heating should be phased out, mirroring the government’s decision to bring forward the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel-powered cars.

Bean Beanland of the Heat Pump Federation, who also welcomed the announcement, said he too would like to see more policy details after what he called a “statement of political intent”.

Speaking to Utility Week he said there was a need for a “massive training agenda” to create the installers of the future, as well as working with a number of government departments such as the treasury, education and health. Furthermore, he believes working within education will help promote the sector as a digitally-driven, smart industry.

“I think if we can get that message across in schools, that our world is smart and digital, our ability to attract a different demographic of child changes and critically I think we can appeal to more women, our industry desperately needs more women”, he said.

He added that a “clear and stable” medium to long-term policy framework from the government will be required to ensure private investment funds can be drawn into the industry.

“The heavy lifting must start now to ramp up the manufacture of heat pumps in the UK and their increased deployment in people’s homes up and down the country. Working in partnership with government, there is also a job to do to communicate the benefits of heat pumps to consumers”, he said.