EVENTS | HEAT PUMP RESEARCH SEMINAR CRITICAL JUNCTURE The governments heat pump research seminar revealed opportunities to roll out heat pumps for all building types, but studies suggest there is still work to do to ensure optimised performance. Alex Smith and Molly Tooher-Rudd report T he governments annual heat pump research seminar demonstrated the growing potential for heat pumps in all types of building, while sharing new data and analysis on heat pump performance. The symposium, held in conjunction with the International Energy Agency (IEA), was opened by Oliver Sutton, low carbon heat technical lead at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). He remarked how awareness of heat pumps had mushroomed in recent years, particularly among the general public. There had been significant progress in the development of heat pumps, Sutton added, but there was still a lot to do in terms of everyone benefiting from a high-performance heat pump. Consultant Roger Hitchin gave an overview of research projects being carried out by the IEAs Heat Pump Technologies Technical Collaboration Programme (HPT TCP). The UK is one of 20 member countries of the HPT TCP, which is based at the Heat Pump Centre in Sweden. HPT TCP acts as a forum for the dissemination of UK government-backed research. Sutton is the UK representative on the programmes executive committee while Hitchin is the UKs alternate delegate. There are a number of current heat pump research projects known as annexes aimed at enhancing performance and addressing barriers to growth (see panel, Heat Pump projects). One being driven by the UK is Annex 60: Retrofitting heat pump systems in large non-domestic buildings. Dr Peter Mallaburn is the project manager for Annex 60 and a principal research fellow at UCL, seconded to DESNZ. He told delegates that it was a big challenge to meet 2050 heat pump targets, especially for nondomestic buildings. Commercial heat pumps are a hidden problem, he said. They dont get much of the limelight and there is a lack of information out there for those deploying heat pumps. The aim of the annex is to provide guidance about different systems for those deploying heat pumps. A web-based tool will analyse the requirements of the building owner and offer configurations that would be worth looking at first. Its complex for decision-makers. There are many complications and issues making it difficult for them to take action, such as capital costs, decisions over energy saving vs carbon saving, compliance, disruption, and risk to reputation, said Mallaburn. The project has gathered 60-70 case studies and the team is looking at how decisions are made during procurement. The guidance will be suitable for all HPT TCP member countries, and will need to look at comparative costs between systems. Taking the temperature Vincenzo Rossi, field data coordinator at DESNZ, spoke about the impact of the UK governments Help for Households advice to reduce boiler flow temperatures and cut energy bills. The strategy aimed to achieve a 9% saving on bills if the boiler was set to 60oC. www.cibsejournal.com February 2024 25 CIBSE Feb 24 pp25-26, 28 Gov heat pump conference.indd 25 26/01/2024 15:23