Samsung Research UK has been awarded £3.2 million of funding towards its Clean Heat Streets project which aims to install 150 heat pumps in Rose Hill, Oxford, creating a ‘Heat Pump Ready’ neighbourhood.
The project is funded through the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio and forms part of the UK Government’s Head Pump Ready innovation programme launched in April 2022.
Having identified two electrical substations in Rose Hill connected to residential streets suitable for numerous heat pump installations, Clean Heat Streets aims to install the heat pumps across these substation areas which deliver electricity from generation to the ‘grid-edge’.
By working to streamline the installation process, and using the economies-of-scale intrinsic in a street-by-street approach, Samsung Research said the project will be able to offer homeowners lower installation costs.
The project also aims to explore how to install a large volume of heat pumps in a concentrated area whilst avoiding problems with the network.
Led by Samsung Research UK, the project is formed by a consortium consisting of Oxford City Council, University of Oxford, Oxford Brookes University, Oxfordshire County Council, GenGame, Passiv UK and Rose Hill and Iffley Low Carbon group.
Also part of the consortium are the distribution energy network, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN), which will help ensure a smooth connection process and local heat pump distributer, Alto Energy, who worked with Samsung to design a streamlined customer journey and supply chain.
“We are excited to be working with Samsung on the Clean Heat Streets project to create a framework for delivering heat pumps affordably and at scale,” said Scott Greening, managing director of Alto Energy.
“We’re based in Oxfordshire, where the project is taking place, and believe we can add value to the local economy by enabling more local installers to get started installing heat pumps.”
Tim Bailey, head of energy innovation at Samsung Research UK, commented: “To move from niche to mass adoption of heat pumps we need lots of organisations to work together to build the trust in the technology within local communities.”
“We are delighted to be leading a consortium to install Samsung heat pumps at a high density in selected neighbourhoods in Oxford, and hope implementing our research will continue to grow the take up of heat pumps in the future.”
To achieve its target of net zero by 2040, Oxford City Council recognised that it needed to address its building emissions which it said are responsible for roughly 60% of the city’s total emissions. To this end, the Council identified that over 30,000 heat pumps need to be installed across the city before 2040.