The Heat Pump Association (HPA) has welcomed Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plan for a “Green Industrial Revolution” this week.
The government has also announced a one-year extension to the Green Homes Grant. This means the scheme will now close in March 2022, bridging the gap to the Clean Heat Grant and aligning with the end of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).
The Prime Minister set out a 10-point plan which vows to create and support up to 250,000 jobs.
Covering clean energy, transport, nature and innovative technologies, the HPA said this blueprint “will allow the UK to forge ahead with eradicating its contribution to climate change by 2050”.
Included in the plan is a commitment to making the UK’s homes, schools and hospitals greener, warmer and more energy efficient, creating 50,000 jobs by 2030 and with a target to install 600,000 heat pumps every year by 2028. This was broadly in line with the level recommended by the HPA in its roadmap document last year.
Graham Wright, chairman of the HPA, said: “As we have stated in our recent report, there is no ‘silver bullet’ solution to the decarbonisation of heat. However, as the Committee on Climate Change has already stressed, heat pumps are an established technology and can provide one of the solutions for an urgent and widespread shift to low carbon heating and must be supported immediately. This plan is therefore welcome news for the heat pump industry as it does appear to agree with our recommendations.
“We also recognise industry’s need to make the required heat pump installation training widely available. This is something the HPA is also committed to and the government’s plan makes it clear there will be new jobs created in order to help carry out this move to greener technology.”