p16,17 ELECTRIC HEATING:Layout 1 15/12/2020 18:21 Page 17 Electric Heating
Converting the more than 25 million households currently heating their homes with natural gas to electric heating, other low carbon technologies such as district heating, or even converting the natural gas grid to deliver hydrogen, will make a dramatic contribution to achieving our target. Driving a market transformation of this scale and complexity will take time and will potentially involve not just a change of heating system and possibly increased insulation levels for the householder, but also an upgrade of critical national infrastructure - and time is not on our side! To achieve the 2050 target, we need to start this change now.
The 10-point plan To add impetus to this initiative, the Government announced in its 10-point plan that it expects industry to increase the number of electric heat pump annual sales in the UK from the current 33,000 to 600,000 by 2028, supported by regulation, particularly in off-gas grid properties. Clearly for heat pump manufacturers and installers, the scale of the expectation is enormous. To assist them, at the very least they will be looking for support from Government in the form of extensions of, or replacements for, current market incentives and subsidies like the Green Homes Grant.
This could be
an opportune time for the electrical wholesaler trade to play a more important role in the burgeoning heat pump market.
Industry has already recognised that this ambitious target will only be met if sufficient trained and competent heat pump installers are available to manage the volumes envisaged. The gas boiler industry currently delivers somewhere between 1.4 to 1.7 million boilers each year into the UK market, and is supported by around 100,000 qualified gas installers. If the Government delivers on its promise to implement the Future Homes Standard as soon as possible and before 2025, this will effectively prohibit the sale of gas boilers in any new home, to be replaced by a low carbon heating system, which in most instances will be a heat pump. This critical stage in the decarbonisation-of-
heat process is a signal to gas installers that they should consider future-proofing their careers by retraining as heat pump installers. If new heat pump brands take advantage of this opportunity to enter and gain a foothold in the UK market, thus assisting in accelerating volumes, this could be an opportune time for the electrical wholesaler trade to play a more important role in this burgeoning market.
ewnews.co.uk Historically, it has been demonstrated
repeatedly that the pursuit of single technology approaches is misguided and therefore the Government is right to trial alternative heating technologies as potential means of decarbonising the energy system, and to that end has plans to begin hydrogen heating trials of properties in a local neighbourhood by 2023, and possibly a pilot hydrogen-heated town before the end of the decade. Clearly therefore it will be at least a decade and possibly considerably longer before we see a meaningful contribution from hydrogen towards the decarbonisation of domestic heating.
Electric resistance heating However, the most significant ‘other’ low carbon heating system that has been highlighted in the Government’s thinking is the ‘Cinderella’ industry of electric resistance heating. Electric resistance heating has been around for more than a century and has been sold on a daily basis by electrical wholesalers throughout the country for almost as long. It is the second most common means of home heating after natural gas, and yet has been frequently overlooked in the long-term planning processes. Although this type of heating, most commonly represented by storage heaters, panel convectors and electric radiators, is less efficient than heat pump technology, the carbon emissions on a CO²/kWh basis of this system are still lower than natural gas, and with an increasing amount of renewable generation
coming onstream on a weekly basis, the carbon intensity of this fuel will continue to drop for some time to come. Despite this type of heating being
referenced as an appropriate solution by the CCC, Element Energy and NEA, there has been a reluctance in the corridors of Whitehall to promote this technology as an alternative to heat pumps because of the perceived operating costs of these systems and the potential strain on the electricity grid at peak times if system take-up is high. However, this concern may be misplaced, as the most frequent application for electric resistance heating in the UK is in small flats and apartments with nearly 25% of all flats in England and 35% in Scotland using the technology. Of the 2.1 million households using this type of heating in the UK, the most common size of home is between 50-75m² in floor area. Since the insulation levels of most modern homes mean that they are almost hermetically sealed, the space heating demand and therefore operating costs are low, as are the capital costs. Consequently, the space requirements and upfront costs of a heat pump system for such a property are not justified by the lower running costs, and therefore it is frequently not a practical solution. The fact that a high proportion of users of this
type of accommodation tend to be elderly, fuel- poor, and sole occupants only reinforces the importance given to the Government’s commitment that “no one will be left behind” in the path to net zero.
January 2021 electrical wholesaler | 17
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