Delivering retrofit ground source heat pump installations at scale is key to achieving our carbon reduction targets – 80% of the building stock that will exist in the UK in 2050 has already been built. By engaging the rented and owner-occupier sector to deliver community-wide ‘heat the street’ schemes, Kensa is future proofing our buildings of yesteryear.
Kensa’s philosophy for retrofit private housing heating upgrades is for a street-by-street, area-by-area basis, rather than house-by-house. This approach has significant benefits, including:
Working in areas of a single decision maker, i.e. privately owned blocks of flats and estates, Kensa’s approach ensures government subsidy can allow large numbers of people to connect at the same time.
Mimicking a traditional gas framework, Kensa’s innovative Shared Ground Loop Arrays link a series of boreholes to multiple properties via an ambient temperature distribution system.
Each property then has an individual Kensa Shoebox heat pump wired to their own electricity supply, which upgrades the low temperature heat for heating and hot water within their dwelling.
Shared Ground Loop Arrays are eligible for 20 years of guaranteed quarterly payments via the Non Domestic RHI.
The 2018 RHI Regulations included an important refinement; for the first time, Non Domestic RHI quarterly payments for residential properties linked to Shared Ground Loop Arrays are now based upon the deemed heat consumption taken from the Energy Performance Certificate.
By introducing deemed payments for the Non Domestic RHI and allowing ‘split ownership’, Government has created a significant catalyst for energy efficient heating upgrades in private housing featuring Shared Ground Loop Arrays, with costs no longer borne by the housing provider.
Based on Kensa’s fully funded ground arrays option.
| Total Cost of Installation (Paid by Homeowners) | £432,270 |
| Kensa Utilities Capital Contribution (RHI-linked) | £229,079 |
| Net Cost of Ground Source Heat Pumps & Cylinders* | £203,190 |
The below outlines the mechanism for housing providers wishing to utilise Kensa’s fully-funded Shared Ground Loop Arrays:
Extended warranties are available on request.
Property’s featuring Kensa’s Shared Ground Loop Arrays will provide end users with numerous unique benefits over traditional Heat Networks:
GSHP’s produce 3-4kWh of heat energy for every 1kWh of electrical energy used, making them 300-400% efficient. Compare this to a typical boiler, which is just 90% efficient. Kensa’s ground source heat pump systems offer the lowest fuel costs.
Because a GSHP extracts so much “free” energy from the environment, this enables CO2 emissions to be lower than any other type of heating system.
GSHP’s don’t require annual servicing or maintenance, and have an expected lifetime of 20 years.
With an individual ground source heat pump in each property, homeowners are in complete control of their own heating and energy bills, enabling easy energy tariff switching and payment only for their own heat consumption.
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With heat being generated at the point of use (inside each dwelling) the ‘heat’ circulating the property is low temperature, therefore there are no heat losses from the system to contribute to overheating in risers and corridors. The low temperature system also allows for free passive cooling to be introduced, creating a comfortable living environment all year round.
1m below the surface the ground temperature remains a fairly constant 8-10°C all year round, ensuring your heat supply is constant and reliable; unlike air source heat pumps, which are impacted by external fluctuating air temperatures causing higher bills when heat is most needed.
Kensa’s Ambient Shared Ground Loop Arrays are an award-winning and pioneering approach to Fifth Generation District Heating and Cooling. The unique Shared Ground Loop Array design allows property owners and developers of two or more dwellings to realise the full potential of ground source heat pumps whilst achieving easier and cheaper carbon compliance, and qualifying…
This Kensa Contracting commissioned animation depicts the key stages for the installation of Kensa Shoebox ground source heat pumps into individual flats in tower blocks, connected to shared ground loop array boreholes. For more information on this application click here.
Summary: Summers are getting hotter! Extreme heat is responsible for record numbers of emergency hospital admissions. Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) ceased investment in all fossil fuel companies as part of a drive to combat climate change and hotter summers and lower air pollution-related hospital admissions. Well-insulated and glazed modern buildings featuring central plant…
Summary: A 2020 study from CBI Economics & Clean Air Fund suggests 17,000 premature deaths could be prevented each year by reducing mortality and diseases linked to poor air quality. Public health charity Medact says air pollution is “comparable to tobacco in terms of the number of deaths per year for which it is responsible”. Combustion…
A landmark luxury housing development comprising forty apartments and houses currently under construction amongst the famous dunes of Perranporth beach in Cornwall is using pioneering architecture and sustainable development to breathe new life into a former derelict hotel site. View the infographic Watch the video “The Dunes”, set for completion in June 2018 by developers…
Download Kensa’s two-page guide to funded Shared Ground Loop Arrays in new build developments, including funded project examples and details of the funding mechanism.
Download a short guide to ground source heat pumps for purchasers and end users, including benefits and costed examples.
