A consortium led by Samsung Research UK has been awarded £3.2m for the Clean Heat Streets project in Oxford City, as part of the UK government’s Heat Pump Ready funding programme.
The project is set to install up to 150 heat pumps in Rose Hill, Oxford. According to a statement, its aims to create a more streamlined approach to installations through establishing a network of skilled installers, as well as saving time, money and resources to encourage more people to adopt heat pump technology.
The consortium consists of Oxford City Council, University of Oxford, Oxford Brookes University, Oxfordshire County Council, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN), GenGame, Passiv UK, local heat pump experts, Alto Energy and Rose Hill and Iffley Low Carbon group. This is funded through the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP) from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
A statement has said that Oxford has an ambition to become a net zero carbon city by 2040 – ten years ahead of the government’s targets. As buildings are responsible for roughly 60% of emissions, it has been identified that over 30,000 air-source heat pumps need to be installed across the city by 2040. The Clean Heat Streets project aims to explore how key barriers to heat pump uptake can be overcome by exploring solutions on a street-by-street basis, rather than an individual home approach.
Tim Bailey, head of energy innovation at Samsung Research UK, said: “To move from niche to mass adoption of heat pumps we need lots of organisations to work together to build the trust in the technology within local communities. We are delighted to be leading a consortium to install Samsung heat pumps at a high density in selected neighbourhoods in Oxford, and hope implementing our research will continue to grow the take up of heat pumps in the future.”
Scott Greening, managing director of Alto Energy, added: “We are excited to be working with Samsung on the Clean Heat Streets project to create a framework for delivering heat pumps affordably and at scale. We’re based in Oxfordshire, where the project is taking place, and believe we can add value to the local economy by enabling more local installers to get started installing heat pumps.”