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Ideal Heating joins global consortium to accelerate adoption of heat pumps
Ideal Heating has joined a major global partnership launched to drive adoption of clean energy technologies, including heat pumps.
The Mercury Consortium is starting with more than two dozen companies from across the global energy sector, all aligned on the low carbon transition and future of energy security.
As a Founding Member of the consortium, Ideal Heating will explore how its heat pumps interact with other energy devices and smart technologies in the home and how we work better with the electricity grid.
By simplifying communication with the broader energy ecosystem, Ideal’s heat pumps can work even more efficiently, collecting smart data to run at the best times and helping customers save money.
That means customers will be able to access cheaper, flexible electricity tariffs and save on their electricity bills.
Ideal joins leading organisations including EDF, E.ON, Octopus Energy, and Amazon Web Services as Founding Members of the consortium.
Ideal Heating Senior Product Manager Andy Farquhar said: “Heat pump technologies give customers a new opportunity to access cheaper, flexible electricity tariffs, while comfortably heating their homes.
“We want our customers to be front and centre of product development and innovation, so they can benefit from adopting low carbon technologies and supporting the drive to net zero.
“Being part of the Mercury Consortium enables us to work with the wider industry to ensure our products work intelligently with energy providers, helping customers save money and heat their homes efficiently.”
The Mercury Consortium is managed by non-profit research and development organisation EPRI, with a focus on clean energy technologies, such as heat pumps, EV chargers, solar panels and smart thermostats.
The consortium will look at how all these leading technologies can integrate and communicate with each other to make electricity grids more resilient and efficient to operate.
Founding Members of the consortium include utility providers, manufacturers, technology providers and industry regulators. Ideal’s membership underlines its role as a UK leader in the heat pump sector.
As the UK’s market leader in the domestic and commercial heating sector, Ideal Heating is driving the industry to a greener, low carbon future.
The business, headquartered in Hull, is investing £60m as it transitions from gas-powered boilers to low carbon solutions, including heat pumps. That investment spans production, distribution, research and development, training and more.
Ideal Heating recently announced it was investing more than £12m, backed by £5.2m of Government funding, to establish large-scale production of heat pumps in the UK.
Ideal Heating is part of the UK operations of Groupe Atlantic, which has a long-standing history of manufacturing heat pumps and is a market leader in many countries across the world in this field.
Jason Hookey, Chief Digital Officer, UK, Republic of Ireland and North America, for Groupe Atlantic, said: “Heating is one of the biggest consumptions of energy in a home. This collaboration is about understanding how, if you then add something like solar panels or an EV charger, these systems interact with your heat pump to further improve efficiency and maximise cost savings.
“We need to be a responsible part of the wider energy ecosystem. The future of all products is going to be connected, and the simpler we can make that for both the customer and the installer, the better.
“We’re part of that energy jigsaw, and we all need to work together to reach net zero quicker, while maintaining energy security and keeping homes warm.”
The Mercury Consortium will work to define common behaviours for low carbon devices, ensuring they work seamlessly with the grid, boosting consumer confidence in the energy transition.