Heating project to replace fossil fuel boilers

SCOTTISH manufacturer Sunamp has secured a multi-million pound boost for the development of a household energy system using its thermal storage batteries to tackle periods of low renewables generation on the grid.

The East Lothian firm will receive £9.25 million in support of the project which is expected to culminate in a trail across 100 UK homes. The funding has been awarded through the Longer Duration Energy Storage Demonstration programme, part of the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio.

Other partners on the project include: myenergi, which designs and manufactures smart home energy products; ES Catapult, the net zero innovation centre; and Ripple Energy, which allows consumers to buy stakes in large-scale wind projects. Fischer Future Heat will provide installation work force for the field trial.

Sunamp chief executive Andrew Bissell said the system will help the UK residents ride out lulls in renewable energy generation and allow home owners to cut their carbon emissions while benefitting from lowercost tariffs.

“We are thrilled to have received this very significant funding award, which is the result of outstanding work from our own and our partners’ product, materials and engineering teams,” he said.

“The money will be used to develop and test in 100 homes a first-of-akind thermal energy storage technology aimed at replacing fossil fuels and bringing forward the electrification of heat.”

Sunamp said its system will directly replace boilers fired by fossil fuels with a heat pump and thermal storage that will deliver space heating and hot water on demand. Testing will be run through the Living Lab at ES Catapult.

The bulk of input will be from offsite wind energy, with customers having the option of part ownership of a wind farm through Ripple Energy. Smart control logic to optimise electricity and heating demand will be provided by myenergi.