Our interview with Dr. Jason Cassells, managing director or Renewable Energy Devices (RED) is live. It's an incredibly interesting interview with a lot of terrific insights.

Laura Bishop, chair of the Ground Source Heat Pump Association, breaks down serpentine and slinky coils, water source and boreholes.

This is a really interesting and insightful interview about ground source and air source heat pumps that also talks about the importance of heat loss calculations and heat pump sizing.

Our second interview with Graham Hendra is out – really great, fun chat.

@editor 

Hi,

Whilst I agree with much of what has been discussed, and that the doubling of the cost of electricity is hurting owners of ASHP's, you may therefore not be aware that the price of gas has also doubled. If the government were then to turn round and cause the price of gas to be inflated even further, I don't think that they would be the government for much longer. I am also not certain if it is the fact that the price of gas is being subsidised, but the fact that the cost of electricity has been inflated to pay for all the renewable energy schemes, no one was going to build offshore wind farms unless they were going to get a reasonable return on investment.

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Today we’re launching our “We Ask…” series of videos on Renewable Heating Hub where we answer questions that homeowners and consumers have about heat pumps and renewable heating. To get the ball rolling Graham Hendra explains in simple terms how an air source heat pump works:

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Julian Clarke tells us what prompted him to switch an air source heat pump from an oil boiler,how he found and selected an installer and how the system is performing.

We've had some great interviews this year on Renewable Heating Hub, and our interview with Dave Pearson is probably one of the most interesting and insightful ones to date.

We spoke about heat pumps used in high rise residential buildings in Glasgow and how heat pumps are being used to help decarbonise whiskey distilleries. Dave also speaks about electricity tariffs and their potential impact on heat pumps. Well worth watching if you have the time to spare or listen to it as a podcast if you're commuting:

Hi @editor 

Whilst I fully agree with much of what Dave had to say, there are one of two statements that I would question.

His statement about what rate the generating companies are paid, where he stated that they all get paid at the most expensive rate, was true when the electricity industry was first privatised, but was later changed to a system where each generator was required to bid in at a rate for each 30 minute period throughout the day. These bids were for the day ahead. Many years ago, when I was working at Slough Heat and Power, they would have to inform the grid that they would be available to generate so many megawatts of power, at a set price, for each half hour period. If they failed to meet their commitment they were required to purchase that quantity of energy on the open market to meet their obligation. The grid would call the cheapest generation initially, and then work its way do the list towards the most expensive. If the generating companies bid in too high, then whey would not be called and hence would not earn any income, unless the grid asked them to remain on standby to replace any lost generation, or if there was a sudden increase in demand. When I was working at a combined cycle gas turbine power station quite a few years ago, they were being charged £6 million per year to be connected to the grid, and therefore allowed to supply power, whether they generated or not.

I don't know all the ins and outs when it comes to wind farms, but I remember hearing that some of the early ones were being guaranteed rates of over £100 per megawatt to encourage companies to actually build the wind farm in the first place.

I certainly feel that there is a need to look at all the costs relating to the 'middlemen' in the energy market, to see why there is such a large difference in the prices paid to the generators as against the prices paid by the consumers.

I fully agree that Hydrogen produced from Methane should be discouraged, but should be produced from excess renewable energy whenever possible. His comment about wind turbines being shutdown when they could have actually been producing green Hydrogen is a prime example. If it pushes up the price of gas, then it would help to make ASHP's more cost effective.

More emphasis should be placed on GSHP's, since they are much more efficient than ASHP's in the cold weather, when they are actually required.

@derek-m, that's very interesting and thank you for elaborating on the cost structure of electricity. I find the whole concept very interesting. 

As is often the case, I agree with everything you've said. GSHPs should be given more priority but the £6,000 grant next year is too little to encourage people given the massive capital outlay. The £6,000 won't even pay for the borehole.

I certainly hope that they can start to use wind turbines that are hanging around doing nothing to help generate green hydrogen – surely that must be the plan at some stage.

Hi @editor

Out of interest, at the present time 61.5% of electricity is being produced from Fossil Fuels, including Coal, 25.8% is mainly from Nuclear and Biomass, 8.6% from interconnectors and 4.2% from Renewables.

The electricity system is nowhere near ready for millions of Heat Pumps and EV's.