An innovation project has shown that domestic customers could innovative heat battery technology.

The ‘Neat Heat’ trial was carried out by electricity network UK Power Networks, supplier OVO and heat storage company tepeo. By leveraging thermal storage, homes ‘charge’ their heating systems outside of the most expensive hours of the day, with heat being released on demand when needed.
The 18-month project involved installing tepeo’s Zero Emission Boiler (ZEB) in 30 homes across the South East and East of England. It demonstrated that heat batteries, as an all-electric low-carbon alternative to fossil fuel boilers, can shift peak energy demand for heating to off-peak times by up to 95%.

At launch, the project attracted more than 2,000 registrations of interest for the limited spaces available, evidencing a strong demand from UK customers for new alternatives to fossil fuel heating.

The trial was built around an innovative tariff proposition developed by OVO that gave customers access to a cheaper (than standard) rate to charge their ZEBs. Customers could also set their ZEBs to charge during the cheapest times during the day, making it simple for the customer and enabling flexibility for the grid.

As well as showing 95% of a trialist’s yearly heating demand could be moved outside of peak hours, where demand on the grid was highest, over 90% could be moved in the coldest weeks in winter. Participants experienced no noticeable change to their heating, with the ZEB providing a similar experience as a traditional boiler, but powered entirely by electricity. All trialists opted to continue with their new ZEB heating solution rather than reverting to a fossil fuel boiler.

Head of Innovation at UK Power Networks, Luca Grella said: “Being able to move electricity demand away from peak hours is huge, for both our network and customers.”