UK: Heat Pump Ready Programme supports innovation and knowledge transfer to accelerate heat pump adoption

Established in 2021, the Heat Pump Ready Programme is designed to support the UK Government’s target of installing 600,000 heat pumps annually by 2028 ^[1]. Heat Pump Ready is a £60 million innovation programme funded by the UK Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) as part of their Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP). The programme supported the development of new tools, technologies and business models to:

• Improve the customer experience when adopting heat pumps ,
• Improve the installer experience from survey and design to aftercare,
• Develop smart and flexible home energy systems utilising heat pumps,
• Advance heat pump technology and manufacturing,
• Create innovative finance models for heat pump deployment,
• Develop new approaches to heat pump deployment at high-density.

 

Between 2022 and 2026, Stream 3 of the Heat Pump Ready Programme focused on compiling outputs across the programme to ensure knowledge transfer and shared learning ^[2]. Previous pillars of the programme, Stream 1 and Stream 2 focused on solutions for high-density heat pump deployment, and specific solutions to overcome barriers to domestic heat pump deployment, respectively.

 

Key learnings on Smart and Flexible Heat Pumps  

 

1. Smart heat pump controls can significantly reduce energy bills by 20% or more.
2. Optimising heat pumps with solar PV, battery storage, and flexible tariffs can lead to even greater savings, potentially halving household energy bills.
3. Remote diagnostics platforms can reduce maintenance and improve performance.
4. In-home smart thermostats or app-based tools support residents’ engagement and behaviour change towards energy efficiency.
5. The lack of common standards among manufactures for integrating third-party controls with heat pumps is a significant  barrier to developing smart controls.
6. Limited recognition in industry compliance tools reduces regulatory or commercial incentive to adopt smart technologies.
7. Internet connectivity is a prerequisite for heat pump’s application flexibility, especially in social housing.

 

Key learnings on innovation in heat pump technology and manufacturing

 

1. Increasing the efficiency of the heat pump units by exploring technologies such as:
   - Integrating waste heat recovery (one project identified potential SCOP gains of up to 20%),
   - Developing novel thermoelectric, solid-state heat pump offering 100% modulation and COPs of up to 4.9,
   - Improving system designs and controls (a closed-loop controller cut heat pump cycling by 25%).
2. Using thermal storage to improve heat pump systems’ efficiency, application flexibility, and reduce peak demand.
3. Developing smart controls to improve efficiency in operation.
   - One project integrating thermal energy storage deployed AI-based controls to manage an Aggregated Thermal Inertia (ATI) system and scheduling of the heat pump operation in response to time-of-use tariffs. Initial testing on 20 homes showed a 15–40% improvement in energy efficiency compared to conventional systems.
4. Developing modular and prefabricated heat pumps for quicker installation.
5. Reducing costs and improving quality in heat pump manufacturing, for instance by using robotics for automated assembly of key components.

 

Although promising, it should be noted that most findings remain confined to laboratory or pilot testing at this stage.

 

 

For detailed information on outcomes of the Heat Pump Ready Programme, visit the UK government website. 

 

 

Sources

[1] Carbon Trust. https://www.carbontrust.com/our-work-and-impact/impact-stories/heat-pump-ready.

[2] Heat Pump Ready Programme: successful projects. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/heat-pump-ready-programme-successful-projects.