Uptake of renewable technology amongst plumbing and heating engineers has risen following growing demand from homeowners, new research shows.
Last month, MCS reported that there has been a record number of renewable energy installations in the first six months of 2023 and heat pumps reached a peak number of 3,000 household installations a month for the first time.
Furthermore, a survey of 150 domestic heating installers, commissioned by Polypipe Building Products, found that 41% of installers who historically install oil and/or gas have now begun installing renewables.
On top of this, of the heating installers who still mainly install oil and/or gas, 37% said they’re currently looking into more renewables and associated training and 38% said they’re considering moving into renewables.
While the wider shift to renewables was being driven, in part, by updates to Part L of the building regulations and the upcoming Future Homes Standard, customer demand was also playing a key role.
A total of 33% of installers said their customers are generally very passionate about reducing carbon emissions, and 29% said their customers only ask for renewable energy.
Dan Love, head of commercial at Polypipe Building Products, said: “It is brilliant to see that more consumers are gaining confidence in renewables and are looking towards them to decrease hefty energy bills and lower carbon emissions.
“The fact that heating engineers are adapting their service offerings in line with this, and the updates to Building Regulations, is excellent and to hear that over 40% are now installing renewables is a big step in the right direction. While this is all positive news, as an industry, we must continue to push this expansion in order to meet our shared national targets.”
One of the barriers to uptake is a lack of industry training. A total of 30% of installers said they want to book a heat pump training course but can’t find one anywhere, and 24% said that there are not enough heat pump training courses available, despite them looking.