An exploration of the system implications of the large scale deployment of hybrid heat pumps in UK housing

This project seeks to develop a strategic understanding of drivers of cost and performance of hybrid heat pumps, and of their impacts on, and potential role in the decarbonisation of heating in the UK.

Hybrid heat pumps have emerged as a possible way to address multiple constraints on the deployment of electrically-driven heat pumps for domestic heating. These include: the need to avoid overloading the electricity distribution grid; the desirability of being able to dynamically switch domestic heat demand to a vector other than electricity; and the desirability of matching the temperature requirements of existing heating systems in the UK housing stock.

With the support of Worcester Bosch, and drawing on the System Architecture literature, the student will begin by mapping the engineering drivers of hybrid heat pump cost and performance, in relation to competing systems. They will then use multiple energy system models to explore impacts of hybrids on the wider energy system, as a function of electricity-to-gas ratios (CH4 or H2) and control strategy, with the aim of illuminating:

the impact of hybrids on energy system operability, resilience, cumulative cost and GHG emissions on the route to net zero;
the strategic implications of hybrids including impacts on load factors on and revenue flows to UK gas and electricity networks.
Throughout the project, the student will work with multiple energy system stakeholders to understand system requirements and contextualise findings from the above.