ACR Journal

CMYK / .ai CMYK / .ai CMYK / .ai acrjournal.uk 37 HEAT PUMPS Contractors call for extension A survey conducted by MCS revealed that almost half of their certified contractors believe that the Green Homes Grant should be extended to 18 months or more. MCS asked over 800 of its members for their views and nearly three- quarters (73%) had high levels of confidence in the scheme, saying that they plan to offer the Green Homes Grant to their customers, while 61% of respondents said it will help with business recovery and enable them to grow. A number of individual responses to the survey captured a general sense of uncertainty around the scheme, with concern regarding the time it is taking the government to finalise the grant, and a need to protect against rogue installers being high on the industry’s agenda. the best options for making their home more energy e cient. That consumer education is sorely required to take pressure o the industry. The consensus among our installers was that the grant should be extended beyond March 2021 to enable more consumers to take advantage. Furthermore, one of the fundamental aims of the scheme is to create 100,000 new jobs within energy and renewables, backed by a training fund. We are glad the government has somewhat heeded these calls.” PL is assisting MCS and the industry in writing new best practice training for the installation of heat pumps. He said: “The opening window just didn’t give the sector the confidence, nor time, to make the necessary long-term investments to train new sta . Installing an air or ground- source heat pump is an incredibly complex process – it’s vital to ensure it’s done right, to protect homeowners from substandard installations and to uphold the industry’s reputation at this challenging time.” JB adds that installers were not properly consulted ahead of the launch: “We need to conduct rigorous surveys and heat loss calculations at a cost to the homeowner, simply to ascertain if a heat pump would work in their property. It takes significant time to train someone to do this – six months was unrealistic for bringing people up to the high industry standards maintained by MCS.” Overall, MCS welcomes the extension of the Green Homes Grant, but maintains that it must be backed up by long-term policy changes and an understanding of how the sector will be supported in the coming years. IR: “With those assurances, we are confident that the scheme will play a strong part in helping to build confidence and grow our industry.” PL: “The industry is approaching a cli edge as we await the end of the domestic RHI in 2022. The level of fiscal support o ered by the Green Homes Grant would have been better suited to the Clean Heat Grant, which is currently going through consultation and aims to direct further investment into heat pumps. That said, I’m glad the Grant now takes us up to 2022.” JB: “Heat pumps are a viable solution for meeting our energy e ciency aims in England. The technology is here, and it works. The focus needs to be on guaranteeing high quality, expert installations, while improving the consumer journey so they know what they’re getting from their investment.” www.mcscertified.com IEC designs and installs air source heat pump systems across East Anglia MCS feature.indd 37 03/12/2020 11:59

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