Retailers - especially food retailers - are serious about all types of heat pumps. All major retailers have had some form of trial over the last 10 years – and now after continued innovation many are ready, and need, to commit to heat pumps in numbers.
Since Erda delivered a world’s first at Sainsburys in Crayford – energy savings and carbon reductions have been increasing year-on-year. Now, with over 30MW of heat pump capacity in the estate, every kWh of heating delivered to the store is at least 80% lower in carbon than a traditional gas-fired system.
The experience at this site, and others like it, underlines the sheer potential for a national pipeline of heat pump retrofits in the retail sector. Indeed, studies suggest that UK retail food outlets account for more than 2% of national electricity demand and 1% of emissions.
The market demand is not in question, nor is the expertise to integrate large heat pumps into increasingly complex sustainability strategies.
The lack of a stable and supportive policy environment for heat pumps in a non-domestic setting is the sole obstacle to commercial-scale carbon savings being realised.
