Will you be getting on board the heat pump train? (continued)

transition to heat pumps as they will not be working when we need to meet the 2050 net-zero target.

“The largest interest in heat pump training comes from younger installers with fewer years of experience. The lesser interested are those aged over 60 and those who have more than 30 years’ experience.”

Vaillant’s survey also asked heating engineers what they think the government’s role should be in scaling up heat pump training. More than 70 per cent said the government needs to do more to support them to upskill to be able to offer the technology; 60 per cent said it needs to make it easier to diversify and 65 per cent believe the government should support them financially to do so.

Money off training

The government seems to be listening. It’s putting up £5 million for a Heat Training Grant to support 10,000 plumbing and heating engineers in England become accredited to install heat pumps over the next two years. An announcement is also expected on low-carbon apprenticeships later in the year.

Training providers and manufacturers offering the Heat Training Grant will be able to

6 days provide trainees with a discount or rebate of up to £500, and some are adding their own additional discounts and offers to entice trainees.

Baxi says it will match the grant with £500 worth of Baxi Works loyalty points for heating engineers who use the voucher to train and achieve its BPECaccredited qualification. When the first installation has been completed and registered, points can be used for a range of rewards including gadgets, vouchers, tools and workwear. “We welcome the government’s focus on skills and its commitment to the installer community,” says Jeff House, Baxi’s External Affairs and Policy director.

And Mark Wilkins, Vaillant’s Technologies and Training director, says: “The Heat Training Grant is a significant step towards making heat pump training more accessible for the installer community, wherever they are in their career.

Accessible training

“Vaillant is supporting this scheme, and we are working diligently with our training partners and internal teams to enhance our current heat pump training offer to ensure it simplifies the process for installers, providing them with cost-effective and accessible training to gain the relevant qualifications to take a heat pump installation through from the design stage all the way to commissioning.”

Its new Aspire programme consists of a personalised learning pathway to upskill heating engineers to correctly design and install heat pumps. It blends online and practical training and supports heating engineers to put in place the necessary processes so that they can join a Competent Persons Scheme or become MCSregistered (see page 37).

Martyn Bridges, director of

‘We should follow Germany’s example’

Germany is taking the renewables bull by the horns and has proposed banning the installation of most gas and oil heating systems with effect from next year. New and replacement heating systems will need to run on 65 per cent renewable energy, it’s been reported, either from heat pumps or district heating, electric or solar thermal systems.

The contentious Bill is due before the German Parliament this month (June).

Stiebel Eltron UK managing director Mark McManus says: “Germany’s decision to ban fossil fuel boilers from January next year is a bold statement in pushing the market towards the use of renewable heating systems.

“If the government is serious about starting a heat pump revolution, it should follow Germany’s example and implement measures that will galvanise the market and really inspire a shift towards renewable heating systems.”

Technical Services at Worcester Bosch, adds: “A Level 3 heat pump qualification takes up to three days of training. Therefore that’s an expense the installer not only presently has to fund, but also means they miss out on three days of potential earnings. This grant will help upskill the labour market and the course will be offered at all our training centres as soon as it becomes available.’’

Daikin says it has the capacity to train more than 7,000 people on air source heat pumps every year and aims to arm 30 per cent of the UK’s heating engineers with the right skills. But its heating and renewables commercial manager Iain Bevan says: “Reaching the UK’s net-zero target won’t happen without collaboration and partnership between specialists up and down the country.”

Stepping stones

It’s all going to take time but progress is being made. Consumers are certainly more conscious about trying to live more sustainably, and some are already planning ahead and asking their gas engineers about heat pumps.

Gas boilers are here for the foreseeable future, especially when it comes down to a distress purchase caused by a broken- down appliance, a cold home and no hot water.

But heat pumps will ramp up, particularly because gas boilers cannot be fitted in new-build homes after 2025. With around 200,000 new homes built every year, that’s a lot of new lowcarbon technology going in.

Heat pumps on their own won’t get us all the way to net zero. But at Vaillant’s recent Parliamentary launch of its research, Lord Callanan, Under Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Green Finance, said: “They are the paving stone on the journey to decarbonised heating.”

Labour’s shadow minister Dr Alan Whitehead also acknowledged how important they will be, but added that they can only get us so far and would probably account for 60-70 per cent of home heating by 2050. Other technologies will be needed for off-grid and ‘hard to heat’ properties, and district heating is likely to play a bigger role.

With well-known players already active in the consumer space, particularly British Gas and Octopus, fitting heat pumps under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme from as little as £3,000, that’s yet another step to ‘normalising’ them in the eyes of consumers. ■

As more and more homeowners choose air source heat pumps, now is the time to invest in your business and partner with Mitsubishi Electric for success.