ACR Journal

NEWS 10 April | May 2020 Volume 6 No.3 GRANT BOOSTS AERONA³ GUARANTEES Grant UK has announced that installers accredited to fit its equipment can now access guarantees of up to seven years on heat pumps bought, installed and registered through the G1 scheme. From March 1, Aerona³ units installed by a G1 installer will be eligible for a 7-year guarantee. In order to be eligible, installers must have successfully completed the Grant Air Source Heat Pump product training course. G1 scheme members who are listed to install other Grant technologies, such as oil boilers, can only extend their scheme accreditation into heat pumps if they have completed the necessary training requirements for this technology. Kevin Ellis, Renewables Sales Manager at Grant UK, said: “To meet the growing demand for our heat pumps, Grant UK is striving to deliver a cross-section of customer support to ensure that engineers are equipped with the tools they need to specify and install Aerona³ heat pumps. Whether this support be in the form of pre-sales technical advice, such as heat loss calculations and product specification, through to MCS sign o or now the longer guarantee periods available to G1 accredited heat pump installers, Grant UK is committed to not only developing high performing air source heat pump units but also delivering installer and customer support before, during and after installation.” The Aerona³ range from Grant UK FINN GEOTHERM HITS £20M RHI MILESTONE Renewable heating expert Finn Geotherm says it has now ensured that £20 million in Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) payments will be shared among its heat pump customers. Administered by the ocial regulator, Ofgem, the scheme is available for domestic customers under the Domestic RHI, and for commercial customers under the Non-domestic (Commercial) RHI. Based on the amount of clean, green heat produced, both schemes provide tax-free quarterly payments for seven years under the Domestic scheme or 20 years for Commercial. Finn Geotherm has been helping its domestic and commercial heat pump customers apply for this tax-free incentive since it was first introduced in April 2014. The company has kept a log of all the payments it has secured for its domestic and commercial customers and this has now reached a total of £20 million. Installers visit Panasonic factory A group of installers from the UK and Ireland visited Panasonic’s factory in the Czech Republic to see the company’s heat pump production facility. The factory originally began production of Aquarea air source heat pumps in October 2018 to help meet the growing demand within Europe for renewable heating technologies. The facility in Pilsen currently has one Aquarea production line, with manufacturing set to increase to reach an annual output of 40,000 units to meet demand. According to Panasonic’s mid-term plan, it is set to become one of the main factories for the production of the Aquarea range in Europe. Panasonic previously exported air-to- water heat pumps to Europe from its Malaysian factory. The company says the Pilsen facility means a more localised and agile approach to product design, with reduced lead times for customers. Installers at the Panasonic factory in Pilsen DFDS extends Transicold fleet International shipping and logistics company DFDS has taken delivery of three new trailers with Carrier Transicold Vector HE 19 refrigeration units. The Vector HE 19 is said to deliver up to 30% fuel savings – when compared to the previous generation Vector 1950 – thanks to a combination of Carrier Transicold’s all-electric E-Drive technology and an all new multi-speed engine design. These fuel- saving figures have been independently verified against the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) and the Association Technic Energy Environment (ATEE) partial load fuel burn standards. In addition, the Vector HE 19 unit’s use of a fully hermetic scroll compressor and economiser helps deliver a 40% increase in refrigeration capacity during pull-down, while reducing the chance of refrigerant escape by 50%. The system is also 19% more ecient when plugged into the electrical grid on standby. Combined, these factors deliver reduced diesel, maintenance and electricity bills, while helping to shrink DFDS’s carbon footprint. DFDS is also improving the sustainability of its short-sea maritime operations with the delivery of 50 new Carrier Transicold NaturaLINE refrigerated shipping container systems, using CO 2 refrigerant, announced late last year.