Narec - The residents of 15 homes in Longframlington in Northumberland will soon have new, environmentally friendly, heating systems thanks to a £96,000 grant awarded to...

Green heating systems sourced for Longframlington

By Sheena McGeorge | 08/12/11 | In Distributed Energy

The residents of 15 homes in Longframlington in Northumberland will soon have new, environmentally friendly, heating systems thanks to a £96,000 grant awarded to Northumberland County Council.

The council has been successful in its bid for funding from the Government’s Renewable Heat Premium Payment (RHPP) scheme fund for a £192,000 project to convert the heating in a number of the properties which it owns in the village, where there is no mains gas.

Working in partnership with Homes for Northumberland and the National Renewable Energy Centre (Narec) in Blyth, the council now plans to replace obsolete coal-fuelled Parkray fires with air source heat pumps.

Homes for Northumberland will match fund an additional £96,000 towards the project, as part of its ongoing renewable energy drive. The housing company will be project managing the installation of the air source heat pumps, working closely with tenants.

The air source heat pump absorbs heat from the air outside, with the same process that a fridge extracts heat from its inside.  The pumps can get heat from the air even when the temperature is as low as -20oC, and this is then used to heat radiators and hot water in the normal way.

Councillor Tom Brechany is executive member responsible for housing at Northumberland County Council.  He says:  “I am delighted that the council’s bid was successful – particularly given that only 24 from 125 received funding in the first round, and that we were the only unitary council to be successful.

“The council is working on a number of fronts to address the causes and implications of climate change and the promotion of low carbon and renewable energy technologies – including the current programme to install solar photovoltaic panels on council homes and buildings.

“I am sure that these heat pumps will make a huge difference to the quality of life of the tenants where they are fitted, and should also lead to lower fuel bills.”

As well as the air source heat pump all properties will receive replacement radiators, a hot water cylinder and pipe work.  Each home will also be fitted with a multi-fuel stove and immersion heater as back-up sources of heating and hot water.

Homes for Northumberland manages the properties on behalf of the council and the company will be dealing with the installation of the new energy features, due to be completed by the end of March 2012.

Ian Johnson, interim director of property services at Homes for Northumberland, said: "Replacing older, solid fuel heating systems with more efficient, air source heat pumps will make a real difference in the everyday lives of tenants as they are more convenient to run.

“We have sourced the best possible equipment for this project which means that these new heating systems will also be more cost effective and will help to improve the warmth of these homes.

“Homes for Northumberland will be working closely with Narec to carefully monitor and measure the efficiency improvements to these properties as a result of this work. We are delighted to be working alongside Northumberland County Council and Narec on this fantastic project."

Air source heat pumps were the most popular technology in the first £15m round of the RHI scheme, announced recently by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).

Climate Change Minister Greg Barker said:  “This scheme directly targets many of the people who could struggle to pay their heating bills in the winter and I am pleased that so many social housing organisations across the country will be able to get a share of the cash.

“It will encourage an increase in the number of new heating technologies in social housing and help people to deal with expensive fuel costs.”

All bids had to demonstrate value for money and were evaluated by experts from the Energy Saving Trust, DECC and the Scottish and Welsh Governments.

Narec will be monitoring the performance of the heat pumps and energy bills in the future, to see how they compare with the current cost of providing heating and hot water.  The findings will be used to inform decisions on future use of air to water heat pumps and other renewable heat technologies in the council’s housing stock.

Adam Stewart, energy master planning project manager at Narec, said:  “This will be the first time that Northumberland County Council has installed air to water source heat pumps and we are delighted to have been part of the bid team which has secured this investment.

"We will continue to work closely with the council and Homes for Northumberland during the installation to ensure that the new systems operate efficiently.   We will then measure the impact of the new systems on the housing stock so that any lessons learnt assist future deployments of this new technology in other off-gas properties.

"This project will remove the physical demands associated with the now obsolete coal-fuelled Parkray systems and provide tenants with affordable warmth at a reduced cost.  We look forward to continued progress working with local authority to reduce the carbon intensity of its housing stock and deliver a higher level of comfort for tenants.”