Oil-replacement heat pump cuts energy bills for chartered surveyor
Chartered surveyor Powis Hughes has tackled the problem of rising oil costs to heat its premises, a converted 50-year-old barn in Berkshire, with the installation of a 20 kW ground-source heat pump. The Dimplex heat pump was installed by GHE and draws energy from eight trenches 50 m long, a metre deep and a metre wide in a large field next to the barn
The oil bill was about £2500 a year, with associated CO2 emissions of over 11 t a year.
The site has a 3-phase power supply, and the original radiators were already generously sized.
Since the heat pump was installed early in 2013, it has generated 20 MWh of heat with an average COP of just under three and earned £1000 of payments from the Renewable Heat Incentive. Over 20 years, the RHI payments will amount to over £33 000.
Other forms of renewable energy on the Powis Hughes site include a 6 kW wind turbine and a 4 kW solar PV array, also installed by GHE. They are achieving returns of 10% and 23%, respectively. Powis Hughes has a long lease on the premises, making it viable to install renewable-energy technologies.
