NESTA PUBLISHES REPORT WARNING THOUSANDS MORE HEAT PUMP ENGINEERS NEEDED
Nesta, a charity focused on supporting innovation for social good, has released a report publishes on the 7th of July 2022 in which they state that there are currently only 3,000 trained heat pump engineers in the UK, but at least 27,000 will be needed in the next six years, requiring increases of 4,000-6,000 per year. This means training more new engineers every year than are currently in the whole industry.
The UK government has set an ambitious goal to increase the annual installation of heat pumps from around 30,000 before 2020 to 600,000 by 2028, in an effort to reduce carbon as heat pumps are a low carbon alternative to the traditional gas boiler that uses heat surrounding a property in the air or ground to supply heat for the property’s hot water system. To meet its net zero target, the UK needs to replace roughly 25 million oil and gas boilers with low carbon heating systems over the next thirty years.
The report looks into the qualifications, skills and required knowledge needed to install and maintain heat pumps. An analysis of the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) database finds there are around 1,300 companies certified by the MCS that install heat pumps, however, in order to meet the government set target the MCS will need to increase this number by 7,000 new engineers annually from 2025 till 2035 to keep up with the demand.
Codrina Cretu, Senior Analyst of Nesta's Sustainable Future mission said: “A shortage of trained heat pump engineers could put a spanner in the works of the government’s net zero target. We will need thousands more heat pump engineers trained every year to make real progress in providing low-carbon alternatives to gas boilers and meet increasing demand for qualified installers, but this won’t happen while there is a risk of engineers spending more on training than they will make from it.
Governments in the UK should look at trialling cash incentives to get more people and companies training heat pump engineers, as well establishing direct routes to training via low carbon heating apprenticeships and college courses.”
To read the full report: How to increase the demand for heat pumps