Integrating heat pumps with solar batteries

There is a need to replace solid fuel and oil heating systems in social housing to reduce carbon emissions and benefit households. However, for a new heating system to be acceptable to residents it needs to provide good thermal comfort and have running costs cheaper than the existing heating system, be controllable, and protect residents from price volatility (as seen with oil). 

This project will install a new innovative fully integrated EcoFlow system combining an air source heat pump (ASHP), with solar PV, battery storage, and a solar immersion controller. A previous project with ASHPs, batteries, and solar PV showed significant savings compared to storage heaters. The fully integrated EcoFlow system is expected to perform better, with lower running costs. To maximise savings, households will be encouraged to switch to smart time-of-use tariffs and options for the export tariff will also be investigated. 

The new EcoFlow system is user-friendly with a simple to use tablet computer interface for control and monitoring of all the systems for the household. The EcoFlow smart solar immersion heater allows residents to easily set and adjust the water temperature via a digital controller on the immersion heater. This overcomes an issue of temperature control with some other solar immersion controllers. The EcoFlow system will include a backup gateway to provide resilience against power cuts for the rural installations. 

An evaluation will assess resident satisfaction and performance of the EcoFlow system against other heat pump and PV/battery systems and solar diverters.