UK should focus on heat pump production
23rd June 2025
UK: The government has called on UK industry to produce heat pump compressors and refrigerants at a component-level to produce commercial and non-domestic heat pumps.
Describing the UK as the largest producer of residential gas boilers in Europe and the fourth largest producer of air conditioning systems, the government’s Clean Energy Industries Sector Plan claims that re-purposing facilities and retraining workers to manufacture heat pumps and ancillaries can offer a just transition to low carbon heating.
“Evidence suggests that manufacturers that produce their own components can benefit from economies of scale, achieving a strong competitive advantage, and tailor the product to local standards and regulations,” it says in the 90-page report, published today.
In its introduction, the secretary of state for energy security and net zero, Ed Miliband, writes: “With this Sector Plan we are targeting at least a doubling of current investment levels across our frontier Clean Energy Industries to over £30bn per year by 2035.
“These are the industries of the future. Industries that the UK is perfectly placed to specialise in. Industries that can create hundreds of thousands of jobs for engineers, technicians, mechanics, electricians, and welders in every corner of the country. But our vision will not just deliver jobs. It will create a new generation of good, industrial jobs with strong trade union representation and position the UK as a world-leading exporter of low carbon products, services and innovation.”
The widely criticised price disparity between electricity and gas is also mentioned as part of the action plan “to make it more attractive for consumers to install clean technologies like heat pumps”.
The government also confirms a new Heat Pump Investment Accelerator Competition (HPIAC), to provide grant support to manufacturers to invest in new or expanding capacity. The competition, which last ran across 2023/24, offered a total of £30m to bring forward investment in the UK heat pump manufacturing supply chain. Recipients of grants for that competition included £4.6m to expand Copeland’s heat pump compressor facility in County Tyrone and £5.2m of funding to increase monobloc heat pump and controls production at Ideal Heating’s site in Hull and hot water cylinder production at Ideal’s Gledhill manufacturing facility in Blackpool.
Commenting on the new plan, Heat Pump Association chief executive Charlotte Lee welcomed the inclusion of heat pumps being listed as a frontier industry as one of six areas with the highest growth potential.
“With a new Heat Pump Investment Accelerator Competition confirmed, £13.2bn recently announced for the Warm Homes Plan alongside a clear timeline for the introduction of the Future Homes Standard and a pledge to expand heat networks, it is clear the government are committed to enhancing the UK’s energy security by decarbonising heat from buildings,” she said.
“Whilst we await the detail within the Warm Homes Plan, this strategy sets clear intentions for the sector, and the HPA will continue to work closely with government to support their missions to break down barriers to investment and deliver nationwide growth.”
