Scotland Minister sees the potential of air source heat pumps at Mitsubishi Electric factory visit

(14/12/2009)

The Scottish Government’s Energy Assistance Package aims to help people who are struggling with rising fuel bills. Grants of up to £6500 are available through the £60 million package, to install low-carbon air source heat pumps for people who normally have to rely on oil or solid fuels.

Since the launch of the Energy Assistance Package in April, over 25,000 households in Scotland have been given energy savings advice. In the last month, nearly 500 households have been moved to cheaper social tariffs and over 500 have received help to get all the benefits they are entitled to, increasing household income by, on average, £1,200 a year.

Alex Neil, Scotland’s Housing and Communities Minister, has seen the potential that air source heat pumps can offer for himself, with a visit to the Livingston factory of Mitsubishi Electric, where the Ecodan® residential heating system is manufactured. The Minister was invited to the factory to view the results of £2.5m worth of investment that will now see Livingston producing 3,000 Ecodan units a year and able to quickly scale this up to 10,000 systems as demand grows.

Ecodan extracts latent heat from the outdoor air and works in temperatures as low as minus 15 degrees centigrade. It requires just a small amount of electricity – no oil or gas – and takes renewable energy from the air to deliver up to four times more heating energy than the electricity consumed. Scottish Gas has already placed an order for Ecodan air source heat pumps as part of the Energy Assistance Package.

“The help available through the Energy Assistance Package is second to none in helping people who are struggling with rising fuel bills,” explained Alex Neil. “For people in rural areas who are often hit by even higher fuel costs, help like this is particularly important, especially at this time of year.”

“The investment in Livingston includes state-of-the-art test facilities where we can monitor Ecodan’s performance in a test room that can operate down to ambient temperatures of minus 30 degrees centigrade. It also has a sophisticated sound chamber,” explained John Kellett, General Manager of Mitsubishi Electric’s Heating Systems Division.

Mitsubishi Electric has also increased resources both for labour and equipment at the plant specifically focused on manufacturing Ecodan units for the UK and Europe.

“I think the Minister was impressed with our long-term vision and this order by the Scottish Government also helps broadcast the technology as the major viable, mass market alternative to gas and oil heating,” ended Kellett.

Related categories:  Energy management   Heat pumps