Are hybrid heat pumps the future for the UK?
An interesting interview with Dr Matthew Trewhella, Managing Director at Kensa Contracting discusses the future of gas & decarbonisation of the National Grid with ground source & hybrid heat pumps. The interview outlines that:
- Hybrid systems will incur twice the service and maintenance costs and grid connection charges, plus will need replacing every 10 years
- A better way to invest the capital would be to remove properties from the grid focusing on areas with high levels of air pollution
- Hybrid heat pumps are flexible, but it’s possible to obtain just as much flexibility using ground source heat pumps and thermal storage
- Ground source heat pumps with smart meters and flexible tariffs can produce bill savings of 25% and carbon savings of 70% compared to mains gas
- Air source heat pumps are more expensive to run than gas boilers, plus create visual impact and higher noise levels
- Production of heat pumps would need to scale up from 20,000 units to over 300,000 units per year to achieve flexible grid transition
- Adding this many heat pumps to the electrical grid will therefore significantly increase electrical demand
- Combining ground source heat pumps with load shifting, smart controls and time of use tariffs can positively effect the grid at times of overgeneration
- Ground source heat pumps offer the lowest running costs because of their high efficiencies and the least grid impact because they can be run day or night
- As the volume of ground source heat pumps increases, it is likely that the price for these units will reduce
To read the full interview, please click here.
