In action

Thermal Storage UK members are working with the electricity sector to design heating systems that keep buildings warm and provide flexibility to the grid. Members are involved in trials around heat and heat flexibility across Britain.

Find out more below.

 

 Project EXTEND (Sunamp)

The EXTEND project aims to replace household boilers fired by fossil fuels with thermal energy storage and heat pumps. Sunamp is working with four leading companies in the UK’s transition to a renewable, zero-carbon energy system – myenergi, Energy Systems Catapult, Ripple Energy and Fischer Future Heat. Funding is through the UK Government’s Longer Duration Energy Storage Demonstration programme.

Electrification of Heat (EoH) Demonstration Project
(Sunamp)

This UK government project sought to understand the feasibility of large-scale rollout of heat pumps into existing homes. This involves trialling different types of heat pumps, along with some additional technologies, in 750 homes across the UK.

A Sunamp UniQ 9 heat battery, the equivalent of today’s Thermino 210, was installed in the utility room and a heat pump outside the ground-floor property. This allowed the homeowners to remove their gas boiler.

SMILE
(Sunamp)

The Smart Islands Energy Systems (SMILE) initiative developed innovative smart grid solutions on the island of Orkney (as well as Samsø and Madeira). The technological solutions included integration of battery technology, power to heat, heat batteries, power to fuel, pumped hydro, electric vehicles, electricity stored on board of boats, an aggregator approach to demand side management (DSM) and predictive algorithms. The four year project was funded under the European Union’s Horizon 2020.

Neat Heat
(tepeo)

tepeo are working with OVO Energy and UK Power Networks to demonstrate how their Zero Emission Boilers (ZEBs) could power a low-carbon heating revolution.

UK Power Networks are funding the trial through the Ofgem Network Innovation Allowance, to explore how flexible demand can support Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) in the transition to low-carbon heating. As part of the trial, OVO are providing a world-first 'type-of-use' tariff for the ZEB. This tariff gives customers a fixed unit rate for their ZEB's power consumption, letting the ZEBs charge based on market price signals and grid carbon intensity in the background.

At the end of the trial, customers keep the ZEB at no extra cost.