Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) has announced a mini inquiry into the barriers to the increased uptake of heat pumps.
The committee said it will mark the next phase of its wider inquiry into technological innovation and climate change.
Prime minister Boris Johnson, in his speech at the Conservative party’s virtual conference last week, identified heat pumps as one of the key technologies for helping the UK to achieve net zero emissions.
However, the EAC says the rollout of the devices is being limited by their relative expense compared to gas-fired boilers as well as constraints on electricity network capacity.
A report published last week by the UK Energy Research Centre estimated that at current installation rates it would take 700 years for the UK to transition to low-carbon heating.
The EAC’s mini inquiry will examine what government can do to increase uptake of heat pumps, how regulation can guarantee they are deployed most effectively and the steps that can be taken to cut heat pump installation costs.
Committee chairman Philip Dunne said: “Heat pumps are playing an increasingly significant role in decarbonising heat in other countries. I look forward to the committee examining why this has yet to take off across the UK, hearing from the sector on whether rolling out heat pumps is feasible at scale and what barriers exist to wider adoption.”
The heat pump inquiry was announced as Rishi Sunak was pressed by the insulation industry to extend the life of the government’s Green Homes Grant (GHG) scheme.
The National Insulation Association (NIA) wrote to the chancellor of the exchequer yesterday asking him to push back the deadline for the £2 billion programme.
The NIA said its members have been inundated with enquiries from customers since the scheme went live on 30 September.
However, in the letter, NIA chair of Derek Horrocks expressed concern that the scheme’s short timescales will hamper its success.
Individual vouchers will only be valid for three-months. In addition, the vouchers will not be available until mid-November, meaning that the industry will have only four and a half months to deliver measures before the scheme’s end date of 31 March 2021.
The NIA warned that without an extension of the scheme, the level of uptake will be “much lower” than the government’s target of 600,000 home upgrades.
Horrocks wrote: ‘In addition to the commercial and logistical challenge of scaling up delivery in the available timeframe, winter weather, additional local lockdowns and reduced availability of trained personnel (due to sickness or need to self-isolate) all present further challenges for the industry.
“Many of these issues can be overcome; however, the short three-month validity of individual vouchers and ‘drop dead’ date of 31 March 2021 for all vouchers drastically reduces the remedy options available to companies in the sector”.
Horrocks also warned that businesses will be less likely to employ new staff if they do not believe the scheme will generate additional work due to too tight timescales.
“The sooner the extension is announced, the greater that confidence will be,” he added.
The NIA’s letter also followed weekend reports that potential customers are struggling to find accredited installers to offer quotes for carrying out energy efficiency improvements under the GHG.