Grant heat pumps at centre of NI energy transition project

This article was originally published in issue 38 of Passive House Plus magazine. Want immediate access to all back issues and exclusive extra content? Click here to subscribe for as little as €10, or click here to receive the next issue free of charge

The RULET initiative is part of the SPIRE 2 (Storage Platform for the Integration of Renewable Energy) project which is a €6.7m EU-funded Interreg VA, cross border project that aims to evaluate, develop, and facilitate the wide-scale deployment of consumer-owned energy storage technologies, to operate profitably in the changing energy markets in Ireland and the UK.

Led by the Ulster University and the NIHE, RULET is focused on making the full benefits of smart energy technology available to the most vulnerable households in the western counties of Northern Ireland, a wind energy hotspot. This includes the installation of the Grant hybrid heat pump system which has been specially designed for social housing.

Commenting on the company’s involvement in the initiative Barry Gorman, national renewables sales manager at Grant said: “We are delighted to be supporting the Ulster University and [the] Northern Ireland Housing Executive in this initiative and helping to advance the deployment of renewables throughout Ireland and the UK. Our hybrid heat pump system allows a 6 kW heat pump to run in tandem with an existing boiler installation. Following basic energy efficiency upgrades carried out by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, the hybrid system will run at high efficiency using wind energy stored overnight and will help to significantly reduce fossil fuel consumption and carbon emissions.”

The first part of the project aims to enable people to avail of agile tariffs by running the Grant Aerona3 R32 6 kW air-to-water heat pumps to charge Sunamp heat batteries. When wind energy is available on the system, NIHE tenants will be able to avail of exceptionally low home heating prices.

Grant said that all four models within the R32 range, 6 kW, 10 kW, 13 kW and 17 kW, have an ErP rating of A+++ and a seasonal coefficient of performance of up to 5.4, making them ideal for compliance with Part L and NZEB. The R32 refrigerant used also has a lower global warming potential than typical heat pump refrigerants.

“Even if external temperatures were to drop as low as -20C, the heat pump’s output will modulate up or down depending on the exact climate conditions to ensure ultimate energy efficiency for the property,” according to Grant.

Visit www.grant.eu for more information on Grant’s range of innovative heating solutions.