NORFOLK VOICE
Awards and rewards from Renewable Heat. Interest in renewable energy has increased dramatically over the past few years as householders and businesses have grown accustomed to reaping the benefits of incentives such as the Feed in Tariff. The spotlight is now moving however to renewable heating, with the advent of the Commercial and Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive. Finn Geotherm of Attleborough, Norfolk have recently been rewarded for their part in driving the technology forwards. In September, their installation of an innovative air source heat pump system for the new Eureka tropical zone at Banham Zoo received the National Energy Efficient Initiative of the Year Award at the Energy Efficiency and Renewables Awards dinner, held at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry. Finn Geotherm reached the final of the award to compete against four other installations from around the UK. The Eureka building has a 60kw Dimplex air source heat pump installed to provide concentrated hot water to the underfloor heating and the air space heating system. An irrigation system for the extensive planting is provided largely from roof water collection tanks. Triple glazed translucent roofing sheets provide natural light, and an inbuilt thermostaticallycontrolled roof venting system provides natural cooling during the summer, assisted by cooler air
Left to right – Martin Shepherd, Commercial Director Dimplex Renewables, Cliff Arnold Managing Director of CTC sponsor of award, Guy Ransom Commercial Director of Finn Geotherm,Leanne Gill Project Manager of Finn Geotherm, Nick Hewer host of awards.
entering from louvered vents located in both sides of the building. The award was not only a huge encouragement to the Finn Geotherm team, but also to Martin Goymour, Managing Director of Banham Zoo. Mr Goymour said “I am delighted that the installation has received this award. At the end of the day, however, the most important thing is knowing that we have a cost effective and reliable system. We are very happy that our experience with this technology has shown this to be so, as well as allowing us to minimise our carbon footprint.” Finn Geotherm has seen a huge increase in the demand for ground and air source heat pump systems since the announcement by DECC in May 2013 that the Commercial RHI rate would
Left – Martin Goymour, Managing Director of Banham Zoo and Guy Ransom
be doubled. This has resulted in the payback on ground source heat pump systems being reduced, often to less than 5 years. Against a 20 year government incentive package and with the additional benefit of heating costs being halved, this makes a heat pump a very attractive investment. The domestic RHI, allowing householders to be paid for the use of renewable heating, will be launched by the government this spring. The stated objective of the Government is that, over the next 15 years, the vast majority of heating systems in the UK will be changed from traditional boilers to heat pumps. The Environment Minister, Greg Barker, recently delivered a presentation to leading industry players entitled “30 million Heat Pumps by 2030”. Guy Ransom, Commercial Director of Finn Geotherm, believes that this target is extremely optimistic. The principal barrier, he believes, will be a shortage of installation companies with the necessary skills to meet this demand. He also notes that, despite the very significant benefits to be gained from using these systems, people remain very sceptical of their effectiveness. “It is disappointing that the UK is some twenty years behind the majority of Europe in the adoption of heat pump technology”, Guy states. “Countries such as Finland have adopted heat pump systems as the norm for many years now, and are accordingly benefitting from lower heating costs and improved air quality.” Finn Geotherm have recently qualified for a Growing Business Fund grant from Finance East and are expanding their team with the employment of additional installation engineers as well as two young apprentices. The outlook for this Norfolk company, and for the renewable heating sector as a whole, is likely to be very positive.
THE MAGAZINE OF NORFOLK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY