In response to the EAC’s comments on challenges to rolling out heat pumps, Charles Wood, Energy UK’s head of new energy services and heat said:
“This is a time of transition, where we know we need functioning markets for new technologies if industry is to drive net zero – whether that’s offering consumers new energy services or building the new offshore wind fleet.
“In the case of heat pumps, the Environmental Audit Committee is correct in its assessment of the most significant barriers for this nascent sector. The low carbon heat market is most in need of clear signals from government in order to justify investment, and the 600,000 installation target is a positive move in that direction.
“Government now needs to follow this broad vision with a strategy for delivery in the 2020s. Bringing down the associated costs for low carbon heat technologies while delivering local growth, for example through developing local supply chains and increasing the number of skilled installers, is critical to giving customers the ability to choose how and when to decarbonise. This has to be joined with regulation, taxation, and incentives in order to deliver rapid market growth towards net zero.
“Energy UK is engaging with government and a wide range of stakeholders to explore and address these issues, and we look forward to the government’s Heat and Buildings Strategy, anticipated in the New Year, where many of these issues will be discussed.”