Renewables
Realise heat pump potential A
heat pump is basically a fridge in reverse. It takes latent background heat, from the earth or the air and, using a combination of
refrigeration circuits, pumps and compressors, multiplies that heat to a level usable within domestic or commercial heating circuits. Depending upon the flow temperature set, the system can be expected to deliver three to four kW of heat for each kW of electricity input. This allows a heat pump to use less energy, be cheaper to run and to create far less CO2 than a conventional heating system – between 75% and 66% less than electric storage heaters. Heat pumps are not only beneficial from an
environmental perspective. When designed correctly, a heat pump can result in significant financial and logistical advantages to users, particularly for district heating schemes. The relatively low running costs of heat pumps enable providers to charge less for the delivery of heat, whilst still making a profit on heat generation. The choice of how the benefit is split can be left to individual providers, but typically a 20% reduction in billing would still result in 60% profit against
Guy Ransom
electric storage heaters and 17% profit against a new oil fuelled boiler. To enhance this return, the Government continues to offer the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI). Payable for 20 years, this can result in quarterly
payments to the heat pump owner
which are twice the cost of the heat that the system generates. Taken with the return on the heat generation itself, this provides a system payback well within the RHI payment term, enabling the benefits of the system to be gained with an effective capital cost of less than zero. Commercial heat pumps have a lifespan far in
excess of traditional boilers. While the initial capital cost of a heat pump may be more than a boiler system, it should last three times longer. Beyond immediate financial considerations, a district ground source heat pump system will provide significant logistical benefits. As the heat pump equipment is all located within a central plant room,
system, perhaps even the most conservative of specifiers would have to admit that, as The Spectator magazine said in 1948, “the time has come when everything must be done to make the most of the knowledge we have gained.”
Heat pump systems as a means of delivering heat and hot water for buildings are not a new concept. However, more than 70 years after the first large-scale one was installed in Norwich, we are still not reaping the potential of the technology. Finn Geotherm commercial director Guy Ransom explains
there is no need to gain access to individual tenant properties for servicing. Maintenance is also very straightforward as, being a non-combustion based system, scheduled servicing is more a matter of checking everything continues to perform as expected, rather than cleaning or replacing components. As leading heat pump systems can be linked to the internet, monitoring and adjustment can generally be carried out remotely, further reducing costs and the probability of system breakdown. And yet, despite all these benefits, the adoption of heat pumps for district heating is still in its infancy in the UK. There is such great potential in this area, we need to start thinking about district heating schemes as the future for all manner of housing developments in this country. We are so used to utilities such as water being provided in this way, so why not heat too? More than 70 years on from the first UK installed
Service & Value since...1897
August 2017
www.heatingandventilating.net
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