Research and analysis

Detailed analysis of data from heat pumps installed via the Renewable Heat Premium Payment Scheme

Data was collected on the performance of around 700 domestic heat pumps installed via the Renewable Heat Premium Payment Scheme. This report has been superseded.

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Detailed analysis of data from heat pumps installed via the Renewable Heat Premium Payment Scheme

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Details

This report has been superseded. See the latest analysis.

The RHPP policy provided subsidies for private householders, Registered Social Landlords and communities to install renewable heat measures in residential properties. Eligible measures included air and ground-source heat pumps, biomass boilers and solar thermal panels.

Around 14,000 heat pumps were installed via this scheme. DECC funded a detailed monitoring campaign, which covered 700 heat pumps (around 5% of the total). The aim of this monitoring campaign was to provide data to enable an assessment of the efficiencies of the heat pumps and to gain greater insight into their performance. The RHPP scheme was administered by the Energy Savings Trust (EST) who engaged the Buildings Research Establishment (BRE) to run the meter installation and data collection phases of the monitoring program. They collected data from 31 October 2013 to 31 March 2015.

RHPP heat pumps were installed between 2009 and 2014. Since the start of the RHPP Scheme, the installation requirements set by MCS standards and processes have been updated.

DECC contracted RAPID-HPC to analyse this data. The data provided to RAPID-HPC included physical monitoring data, and metadata describing the features of the heat pump installations and the dwellings in which they were installed. This report presents results from analysis undertaken by RAPID-HPC up to the end of January 2016. As the analysis has progressed, limitations with the underlying data have been identified.

The revised reports include detailed analysis of the effect of monitoring anomalies and systematic bias caused by calibrating the heat meters for water, rather than a water-glycol mixture. The report concludes that the median estimates of heat pump efficiencies are not significantly affected by these anomalies. For further information, please see the revised reports.

Published 11 February 2016
Last updated 27 September 2016 + show all updates
  1. RAPID-HPC’s statement on data anomalies and interpretation of the RAPID-HPC February detailed analysis report.

  2. First published.