Clean heating developer aiming to 'turbocharge the rollout' of ground source heat pumps in partnership with Last Mile
Rendesco has announced plans to develop a £150m pipeline of ground source heat pumps installations for new-build homes across the UK, which the developer claims is the largest private sector investment of its kind in the UK's emerging clean heating sector.
Rendesco's system takes underground heat from boreholes using concealed pipework to replace boilers, either through a large central heating system for a number of homes in a single development, or through smaller heat pumps fitted to individual homes, it explained.
As such, the firm claims its system is "highly scalable", while its ground source heat pumps also typically save 18 tonnes of CO2 per property compared to fossil gas boilers, and three tonnes of CO2 compared to an air-source heat pump.
The company owns a portfolio existing ground source heating networks that provide heat to more than 3,000 UK homes, and is already developing a slew of further fresh projects covering over 800 new-build homes.
However, the firm is eyeing a bigger chunk of the emerging market for low carbon heating in new-build developments, with hundreds of thousands of new residential properties built in the UK every year, while fossil gas boilers are set to be banned from new-build homes from 2025 under the forthcoming Future Homes Standard in the UK.
The heat pumps are to be installed and owned by Last Mile Heat, Rendesco's joint venture with Last Mile, a utility infrastructure partner for housebuilders.
"Our pipeline demonstrates the fantastic progress with our Last Mile Heat joint venture and means we can offer our clean heat solutions to even more housebuilders," said Alastair Murray, Rendesco's founder and CEO. "The UK's clean heat market needs greater innovation - and quickly - if we are to effectively decarbonise the country's homes and buildings. This is where Rendesco's solutions come in, providing low-cost, low-carbon options for housebuilders, and ultimately householders, to power their homes with clean heat."
Through its partnership with Last Mile, Rendesco claims housebuilders are able to install its ground source heat pumps in their developments at a "considerably lower cost than through mainstream channels".
The approach also reduces the installation cost for households and "significantly improves the energy efficiency of homes", thereby saving money on energy bills, it added.
The investment announced yesterday marks the latest major move to ramp up the market for heat pumps in the UK, where sales of both air source and ground source appliances have risen sharply over the past year or so, yet still remain far lower than much of Europe.
Earlier this year, heat pump maker Kensa Group secured £70m investment from Octopus Energy and Legal & General, which at the time marked the largest investment to date in the UK green heating market.
The government has set a goal for 600,000 heat pump installations per year by 2028, but many experts - including the Climate Change Committee - have warned that without further incentives, regulatory support and investment the chances of delivering on the target remain slim.
But commenting on yesterday's announcement, Mike Pearce, CEO of Last Mile, said the joint venture with Rendesco would put them "at the forefront of providing clean heat solutions to the next generation of Britain's homes".
"The UK ground source heat connections market is growing rapidly with ground source heat being a highly sustainable and affordable solution for new build projects, for developers and residents alike," he added.
