Heat pump installations in the UK have already exceeded last year’s total, setting a new milestone for the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) with three months still to go in 2024. By the end of September, 42,000 installations were completed—outpacing 2023's total by approximately 4%.
The UK government is launching the Warm Homes Grant in 2025, an exciting initiative aimed at helping homeowners make their properties more energy-efficient. This fully funded scheme is available to those who meet certain criteria and could significantly reduce your energy costs while lowering your home's carbon footprint.
This week, the UK's last coal power station closed, signalling that the country’s energy landscape is undergoing a massive transformation. For over 200 years, coal was king, powering industry and homes alike. But today, renewable energy sources like wind, solar, and hydro are rapidly replacing fossil fuels in the national grid. With that change comes a new challenge—and opportunity—for those of us in the heating and plumbing industry.
With the UK election out the way and a new government in place, we feel it’s important to explore the potential implications for the heat pump market now that Labour has taken the helm. For plumbers, particularly those considering diversifying into heat pump installations, Labour's anticipated measures could present significant opportunities in the evolving green energy sector.
The UK remains overly dependent on natural gas, according to the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC), which provides independent recommendations to the government.
In its recent annual assessment, the NIC highlights the urgent need to reduce reliance on high-cost, high-carbon natural gas and accelerate the adoption of heat pump technology to meet the ambitious net zero targets by 2050. According to the Commission, decarbonising buildings is a critical aspect of this transition and represents the single biggest challenge on the path to net zero.
Alto Energy is delighted to announce a further 250 spots have been made available on our Alto Assured Heat Pump Training Course. Following the success of the course this year, and due to unprecedented demand for spaces, we have increased the number of courses we’re running - both online and in person at our training centre in Oxfordshire. Our free course represents a unique opportunity for heating installers to quickly get started installing heat pumps.
The end of 2021 is nearly upon us and when we look back we are certain that it will be viewed as the year that the Heat Pump industry finally achieved blast off. This year has been unbelievably busy, with so many enquiries about heat pumps from homeowners, heating installers and housebuilders, all of whom are looking to improve green credentials and do their bit to better the environment.
We understand that when designing a heat pump for your home, every property is unique. This means that the heat pump design will need to be unique too. For every heat pump that we design and supply, we complete a bespoke room-by-room heat loss assessment and produce a suite of bespoke schematics for the heat pump installation.
We understand that when designing your own home, it will be a property that is unique. This means that the heat pump design will need to be unique too. For every heat pump that we design and supply, we complete a bespoke room-by-room heat loss assessment and produce a suite of bespoke schematics for the heat pump installation.
When installing a heat pump you are required to get permission from the District Network Operator - DNO - before making the connection. This is because the DNO, who are responsible for managing the network, need to check whether the local network can handle the additional load from a new heat pump installation. If you install a heat pump without permission, you could be forced to remove it.
DNO applications for existing electricity supplies are handled by us, in-house, as part of our service. When considering which heat pump partner to choose, this is an important factor to consider. Navigating the DNO process can be a challenge, and it is a requirement of the MCS scheme to have the DNO permission in place for a heat pump installation.
