A grant from Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership’s Innovation for Success fund has helped a Kendal-based firm develop a prototype for a new domestic heat pump.
The pump designed by Revolutionary Concepts Ltd could make it cheaper and quicker to install the technology as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which cause climate change.
A grant of £43,214 from Cumbria LEP will meet 50% of the total project costs of £86,429.
Company director Simon Bainbridge said: “We focus on areas where design improvements can lead to significant changes in available technologies to existing markets.
“The aim is to make it easier to use heat pump technologies. At the moment they are more expensive and complicated to install than gas and oil boilers.
“New Government proposals mean that it is likely that all housing, built from 2025, will need to have heat pumps. It makes technological development vital.
“With any new technology a good supply chain is key. Within Cumbria, we are working with Bennet Engineering, Lakeland Laser, Thomas Graham and Northern Power Tools. Their support is greatly appreciated.
“All in all, we are extremely happy with the project and the help from the Cumbria LEP. We are looking forward to developing the project further this year, including performance trials of a second prototype with a university.”
Cumbria LEP’s Innovating for Success grant was launched in September 2022 to award a share of £1 million in funding to support innovation or cut carbon emissions.
Grants are split into two categories:
Innovation: Maximum grants of up to £50,000 to part fund initiatives that turn new ideas into commercially viable and deliverable propositions.
Carbon reduction: Maximum grants of up to £20,000 to part fund practical projects that will help businesses reduce energy usage or increase renewable energy production.
Jo Lappin, chief executive of the Cumbria LEP said: “It is great to see the difference that the Innovating for Success grant programme has made in supporting Revolutionary Concepts Ltd.
“They are an excellent example of why we launched Innovating for Success. It was to encourage small and medium sized businesses across Cumbria to invest in either innovating or decarbonising their business.”
“This project helpfully does both. The business is developing a new innovative product that has the potential to support the decarbonisation of domestic heating, which will be essential to achieving the UK’s net zero aims.”
Independent economic assessment by Cumbria LEP has confirmed that over a 10 year period, the Innovating for Success investments will deliver an additional £37 million of economic growth, create an additional 97 full time equivalent jobs and save over 4,160 tonnes of CO2 in Cumbria.
