Manufacturers ready for more demand

On the day I go to Octopus Power’s warmth pump manufacturing unit in Craigavon, Northern Eire, temperatures in London reached 29C.

Among the workers assembly me, who’re normally primarily based within the south of England, are beaming. It is fantastic to flee the warmth, they are saying.

And who can blame them. Climate change is making the UK hotter. With a view to do one thing about that, decarbonising our energy systems – together with home heating – is turning into an increasing number of pressing.

Warmth pumps run on electrical energy, not oil or fuel, and Octopus is manufacturing warmth pumps of its personal design proper right here in Northern Eire.

“It type of will get more durable as you go up – it is like ranges in a sport,” says Patrick Doran, one of many employees right here, after I view the manufacturing line.

He is referring to how, in just below a yr, he is accomplished coaching in every stage of the manufacturing course of.

From becoming pipework to attaching bundles of cables, which join up the warmth pump’s inside electronics. “I get to do one thing completely different day by day,” enthuses Doran.

The federal government desires to see 600,000 warmth pumps stepping into to UK properties yearly by 2028, simply three years away.

Whereas installations have quickened recently, the nation stays far behind that focus on. Whole UK warmth pump gross sales have been barely under 100,000 in 2024.

Demand for warmth pumps boomed in Europe when fuel costs spiralled following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 – however that enthusiasm has since cooled.

Gasoline has turn out to be barely cheaper once more that means that warmth pumps are finding it harder to compete in opposition to fuel boilers when it comes to working prices.

This manufacturing unit, in a medium-sized warehouse, can churn out 600 warmth pumps per thirty days, I am instructed – and this may quickly double when a second manufacturing line turns into lively.

And in precept, Octopus might introduce extra shifts right here and make many occasions that variety of models. If increased demand materialises.

“We are able to have a plug-and-play resolution that works within the majority of properties within the UK,” says Aimee Clark, head of business, as she explains why Octopus needed to fabricate its personal warmth pump – which is uncommon amongst electrical energy suppliers, to say the least.

Different warmth pump makers, together with Vaillant, have UK manufacturing websites. And Copeland, which makes warmth pumps parts, has a manufacturing unit right here in Northern Eire. It provides compressors to Octopus.

Warmth pumps work by absorbing warmth from the atmosphere, normally the air. It is a method of harvesting free warmth, should you like.

Ambient warmth causes a refrigerant inside the warmth pump to heat up and increase. A compressor squeezes that refrigerant, elevating its temperature but additional.

Lastly, a warmth exchanger transfers this warmth to water that will get pumped round your radiators, as an example.

The Octopus warmth pumps sport an uncommon design. They arrive in a darkish gray plastic casing. I’ve to confess, to me, it appears to be like just a little bit dour – however it packs some authentic tech.

Mateusz Dewhurst, director of producing, factors out an inside metallic plate the corporate has patented – refrigerant flows by this plate, absorbing warmth from the machine’s electronics and cooling them down. “That is a efficiency acquire,” says Mr Dewhurst.

He additionally says the warmth pump’s casing accommodates small gray insulation beads to cut back warmth loss from the system. Precisely the identical type of beads which are typically used to insulate cavity partitions in buildings, he explains.

Warmth pump expertise has been around since the 1800s.

Zhiwei Ma at Durham College says manufacturing these gadgets is comparatively simple – he made one himself when he was a PhD scholar.

“It labored superb,” he recollects. Corporations akin to Octopus are capable of purchase in the primary parts and assemble a completed product. “There’s little or no room to enhance something,” argues Dr Ma.

Octopus would maybe disagree. They are saying their design selections make a distinction to total efficiency, which the agency can monitor due to the numerous warmth and strain sensors it secretes throughout the machine.

Warmth pumps can produce a number of kilowatts of warmth for each kilowatt of electrical energy they devour, a ratio generally known as their co-efficient of efficiency (Cop). Making certain the Cop is as excessive as doable actually issues when it comes to preserving working prices low.

Octopus technicians can intervene ought to information from a warmth pump’s sensors point out a extreme dip in efficiency. And clients additionally get an summary of their warmth pump’s effectivity through a smartphone app.

Making certain that warmth pumps are put in competently is paramount, says Steven Metcalf on the College of Warwick. He and colleagues often work with Mitsubishi, which has a warmth pump manufacturing unit in Scotland.

“It may very well be the distinction of a Cop of two.5 versus 4 – your payments will scale with that,” he explains. “It may be an enormous penalty for getting a foul set up.”

Public acceptance of warmth pumps rests on folks having confidence that switching to such a system will not grow to be a massive headache – although it is value saying that, in different nations akin to colder Norway, warmth pumps have long been embraced by locals.

Octopus says surveys of its clients counsel a majority discover their warmth pump prices the identical or lower than their previous fuel boiler, and gives warmth that’s simply as comfy if no more so.

Taxing fossil fuels more durable is one method to spur demand for home home equipment that use electrical energy instead, says Paul Kenny, director normal of the European Warmth Pump Affiliation, an trade physique.

“Proper now what we now have is factories which are at low capability components, they’re idle or working nicely under what they may very well be working,” he says, referring to the slackening demand for warmth pumps in Europe at current.

There is also better consistency concerning subsidies.

Regardless of having the highest proportion of especially-polluting oil heating programs of any UK nation, Northern Eire is the one area throughout the UK or Eire that doesn’t have a widely available grant to cut back the price of a warmth pump set up.

I level out the irony, due to this fact, of creating warmth pumps right here to TJ Root, Octopus’s Cosy program director, after my manufacturing unit tour. “It is extremely ironic,” he agrees.