BOXT announced as part of Heat Pump Ready Programme

BOXT is looking forward to being part of the expert-led consortium, through the Heat Pump Ready Programme, funded through the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP), which has just been announced to investigate the feasibility of an optimised deployment of domestic heat pumps, at high density in the City of Oxford.

The consortium consists of leading manufacturer of heat pumps - Samsung, Oxford University, Oxford Brookes University and Oxfordshire County Council, behaviour technologists Gengame and energy & utilities decarbonisation - SMS PLC. The plan is to develop a ground-breaking customer offer for fully installed and maintained smart heat pumps which will be trialled initially within the local Oxford community.

 Andy Kerr CEO & Founder of BOXT says ‘‘It has always been important at BOXT to lead the way and innovate by disrupting and modernising the heating industry and we see this as the crucial next step in developing the future of renewable heating in the UK. It allows us to expand the fixed, fair pricing model that has made BOXT so successful within the gas boiler industry to the renewable energy products’ by removing friction and cost from the current process.’’

If successful, Phase 2 of the project would consist of 750 heat pumps being installed in a community of 3,000 homes in the City of Oxford. As part of the project, local gas heating engineers will be upskilled and will work with the county and city councils and with finance providers to make sure that a wide range of people within the local community (including homes with lower incomes) are able to benefit from a heat pump. Installations will be carried out by BOXT’s network of gas safe registered engineers & yearly maintenance will be offered using the same local network alongside a 7-year warranty.

We will work with the local DNO (SSEN) to identify any local network constraints and opportunities to use the flexible smart control of heat pumps to avoid the need for expensive grid upgrades and connection charges for customers. We will also work with energy suppliers using smart metering and half-hourly settlement of the electricity used by heat pumps to reduce a supplier’s costs and to be able to offer a cheaper simple-to-understand tariff to customers.

About BEIS: Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy

This funding has been made available from the government’s £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP) which provides funding for low-carbon technologies and systems. Decreasing the costs of decarbonisation, the NZIP will help enable the UK to end its contribution to climate change.

About the Heat Pump Ready Programme

Funded through the NZIP, the Heat Pump Ready Programme supports the development of innovative solutions across the heat pump sector. Heat pumps are a key solution for decarbonising homes and will be critical for meeting the UK’s commitment to achieve Net Zero by 2050. The Heat Pump Ready Programme stream 1 phase 1 supports the deployment of heat pumps through the development and trial of innovative solutions and methodologies for the optimised deployment of domestic heat pumps, at high-density, in the UK.

Heat Pump Ready is being delivered in 3 Streams:

• Stream 1: a 2 phase SBRI competition with up to £30m available toto design and demonstrate innovative, optimised solutions and methodologies which deliver more cost-effective and high-density deployment of domestic heatsupport pumps.
• Stream 2: up to £25m available through a grant funding competition to support the development of tools, technology and processes to overcome specific barriers to domestic heat pump deployment in the UK.
• Stream 3: up to £5m contract to facilitate learning and collaboration within and outside the programme, undertaking research and evaluation activities, and disseminating knowledge, evidence, and lessons to key heat pump stakeholders.