Another problem has emerged for the heat pump sector which had, until last week, anticipated rapid growth as part of the UK’s net zero commitments.
Industry experts worry there are insufficient qualified installers to scale up from fitting 60,000 heat pumps last year to an estimated 250,000 a year by 2025.
Currently, there are about 3,000 qualified installers but experts calculate the country will need 27,000 by 2028 to hit current government targets.
Mike Foster – chief executive of the Energy and Utilities Alliance, which represents heat pump manufacturers – says: “The demographics of transitioning to net zero is incredibly challenging. There’s a disproportion of heating engineers aged over 50.
“It will require fresh entrants to the labour force and a large number will have to be trained quickly and well so that high-quality installers go into properties and that people feel confidence.”
The National Federation of Builders is also concerned about the lack of installers highlighting that just a handful of companies accounted for the 60,000 pumps fitted last year.
NFB housing and policy head Rico Wojtulewicz says: “We don’t have enough installers and we only have a few years to get ready.”
Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering, CIPHE, chief executive Kevin Wellman believes there should be mandatory training for heat pump installation and a compulsory qualification.
“Heat pumps are a different type of technology from gas boilers running from lower water temperatures, so you need to be able to look at the fabric of a building, its pipework and radiator size. It’s not a case of a like-for-like conversion course” he adds.
Under revised plans, the government will:
– Scrap policies to force landlords to upgrade the energy efficiency of their properties, but instead continue to encourage households to do so where they can;
– Raise the Boiler Upgrade Grant by 50% to £7,500 to help households who want to replace their gas boilers with a low-carbon alternative like a heat pump.
– Delay the ban on installing oil and LPG boilers, and new coal heating, for off-gas-grid homes to 2035, instead of phasing them out from 2026. Many of these homes are not suitable for heat pumps, so this ensures homeowners are not having to spend around £10-15,000 on upgrading their homes in just three years’ time.
– Set an exemption to the phase out of fossil fuel boilers, including gas, in 2035, so that households who will most struggle to make the switch to heat pumps or other low-carbon alternatives won’t have to do so. This is expected to cover about a fifth of homes, including off-gas-grid homes – those that will need expensive retrofitting or a very large electricity connection.
– Rule out policy ideas that would require people to share cars, eat less meat and dairy, be taxed to discourage their flying, or have seven bins to hit recycling targets – removing worrying proposals that would interfere in the way people live their lives.
– Move back the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by five years, so all sales of new cars from 2035 will be zero emission. This will enable families to wait to take advantage of falling prices over the coming decade if they wish to.
