WWF Scotland welcomes funding to boost heat pump development

Environmental groups have welcomed £2.3m in Government funding to encourage development of heat pumps.

Heat pumps extract energy from water to supply low carbon heat efficiently.

The new challenge fund – part of the part of the Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme – will provide £375,000 to boost development of water pump business proposals, with a further £2m set aside for those with a fully developed investment grade business proposal but who cannot identify private investment.

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Speaking yesterday, energy minister Fergus Ewing said: “Heat is estimated to account for over half of Scotland’s total energy use and responsible for nearly half of Scotland’s greenhouse gas emissions, so the imperative to take action is very clear.

“We have already made significant progress and will continue to work together with energy experts, businesses and communities to move towards our target of having have 40,000 homes connected to district heating by 2020.”

Responding to Ewing, WWF Scotland Head of Policy, Dr Sam Gardner, said: “The need for heating makes up more than half of Scotland’s energy requirements. Therefore, we were pleased to hear the Minister commit to further development of an overall energy strategy for Scotland, which includes electricity, heating and demand reduction.

“The Scottish Government must now use the Spending Review to give more detail on their plan to make energy efficiency a National Infrastructure Project, in order to bring clean and affordable warmth to thousands of households and businesses in Scotland.”

Professor David Sigsworth, Chair of the Fuel Poverty Strategic Working Group and Vice President of The Association for Decentralised Energy, said: “Demonstration of the benefits of innovative projects like these to local communities is key to wider uptake and a further step towards the provision of low carbon low cost heat to more households in Scotland.”