EDF has made a strategic investment and partnership with heat pump installer CB Heating in what it said is the first step towards its long-term heat decarbonisation strategy.
This strategic investment will see EDF partner Clacton-based CB Heating for its customers’ heat pump installations. This will be done through CB Heating’s Heat Pump Installer Network (HPIN), with over 500 approved heat pump installers in the UK.
Alongside this, EDF’s investment will also support the development of a Heat Pump Installer Network Academy. This will deliver training to upskill engineers across the country.
Increasing focus has been placed on the training of heat pump engineers, particularly following the announcement of the government’s goal of 600,000 heat pump installations annually by 2028.
Last year, the Heat Pump Association launched a new heat pump training course, with over 40,000 installers each year to benefit from it.
Meanwhile, Centrica’s British Gas has committed to training 3,500 apprentices over the next decade, having launched a new air source heat pump offering in January.
British Gas is now targeting 20,000 installations per year by 2025.
As it stands, there are less than 4,000 qualified heat pump installers in the UK, according to MCS estimates, compared to over 100,000 gas safe engineers.
The Heat Pump Installer Network Academy has the potential to train up to 4,000 new heat pump installers from autumn 2022.
Philippe Commaret, managing director of customers at EDF, said: “Through investment in training and upskilling engineers in each region of the country through the unique HPIN academy, this ambitious and regionally focussed approach will see EDF working with smaller businesses and local installers to help Britain achieve net zero.”
HPIN allows CB Heating to carry out installations on a national scale by working with local heating companies across the UK.
The new partnership between CB Heating and EDF comes ahead of the launch of the government’s Boiler Upgrade Scheme on 23 May.
This scheme will provide customers with upfront grants of £5,000 to reduce the cost of installing eligible heat pump systems.
It was first announced in the Heat and Buildings Strategy, along with other policies and initiatives such as a £60 million Heat Pump Ready innovation programme and plans to make a decision on the potential role for hydrogen in heating buildings by 2026.