INDUSTRY INSIGHT
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Disjointed policy could lead to 50% of homegrown energy wasted T
he HWA have been advising government for some time about the risk of ‘lost’ or ‘untapped’ energy. Last year the HWA launched a report ‘No Place Like Home’ which highlights huge gaps in government policy potentially
resulting in the UK falling short of Net Zero, or at the very least, making it harder to reach. A recent industry study by consultancy company LCP, states ‘‘the sheer
scale of the challenge of transitioning the energy system to one so heavily dependent on renewables and nuclear has only just begun to be addressed. If the Government’s new 2030 targets for nuclear and renewables are achieved, our initial analysis indicates that there will be an oversupply of power more than half the time (53% of the hours in the year) – up from 6% expected in the coming year.’ To be in a situation where we have the capacity to generate our own energy, but not utilise or store it effectively is absurd. The Government must step up its efforts to ensure this does not happen. Never has energy security been a more pressing issue than now. Generating our own energy, and then wasting 50% of it, is worse than doing nothing. Especially when there is an option, which is yet to be fully recognised.
The role of the hot water cylinder in Net Zero
There is much excitement around the role that energy storage technologies can play to help accommodate more low to zero carbon energy sources into the UK’s generation infrastructure, however, relatively little attention has been paid to hot water cylinders. There are currently approximately nine million hot water cylinders installed, in homes across England. With a gap of 18 million homes in England, it is clear that homeowners are not replacing or installing cylinders at the speed required to meet our decarbonisation targets. However, the nine million cylinders in situ still equates to 70GWh of untapped
energy storage (around seven times the capacity of the UK’s largest pumped hydro power facility, Dinorwig in Wales). HWA believes that homeowners with a hot water cylinder should be educated on its full potential and encouraged to retain it in order to future proof their heating system and maximise the UK’s energy storage potential. Most, currently available, low carbon heating solutions require a hot water
cylinder. Hot water storage is the only practical solution to turning the energy into something useful and banking it for when it needs to be used. There is also, currently untapped potential for them to act as domestic batteries.
Whilst renewable energy targets forge ahead, the huge gaps in policy for energy storage could result in half of the home grown energy going to waste. Isaac Occhipinti, director of external affairs, the Hot Water Association (HWA) has a stark warning for Government
Left: Isaac Occhipinti, director of external affairs, the Hot Water Association (HWA)
The energy storage potential associated with the UK’s installed capacity of domestic hot water cylinders is comparable to our entire fleet of pumped-hydro- electric storage and with just a fraction of this resource; it would be possible to absorb the largest surpluses of renewable power that arise from offshore wind and solar PV, and mitigate the warnings from the LCP study. Government must do more to educate homeowners, local authorities and social landlords on the benefits and potential of hot water storage, and homeowners should be able to access incentives if they wish to replace their hot water cylinder with no stipulation on the type of system to be installed only that it is a suitable replacement. This will also mean that in the future the cost of moving to new heating systems will be reduced. Less than 45% of homes in England currently have a hot water cylinder
installed, down from 77% in 2001. The main reason for this is the popularity of the combination boiler. Of the approximately 1.6 million boilers installed every year, around 80% are combination boilers. The combination system does not require a hot water store as they produce the hot water instantaneously. Household hot water needs vary greatly. The more people in the property, the
greater the demand for hot water from multiple outlets simultaneously. Storage, particularly mains pressure storage, overcomes multi outlet demand because the water is already heated and ready to go. Something that most Combi boilers cannot generally do. Homeowners with demand for simultaneous multiple outlet use have come to realise that they are not suitable for every installation. If we do not invest in this untapped asset then it will become more expensive
to upgrade homes to become ready for Net Zero. We also will not be able to take advantage of the current grid balancing potential of millions of hot water stores. No place like home’- the HWA’s full report on the potential of Hot
Water Storage is available to download at
https://hotwater.org.uk/ uploads/6177D216E375E.pdf
26 August 2022
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