Caldera Heat Batteries has secured a £470,000 grant from the Department of Business Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to roll out its Warmstone heat batteries to 12 pilot homes across the south of England.
Warmstone is described as a breakthrough in thermal storage. It stores heat energy using off-peak electricity and performs exactly like a gas boiler, releasing heat when required to power a home’s heating and hot water.
Caldera says that it is well suited for the million-plus UK homes that are both hard-to-heat and off the gas grid, currently reliant on fuel oil or LPG. The firm says that it has begun taking orders for 2022 and beyond.
Roll-out of the 12-home pilot is expected to be completed by Christmas.
The battery comes in one size. It is 1.1-metre in diameter and 1.8-metre high. Given the high density of the solid-state storage material used, it weighs 1.85 tonnes and is best installed outside or in a garage. It costs £12,000 including VAT and standard installation.
Caldera chief executive James Macnaghten said: “Our zero-carbon heat battery has been purposely designed to operate just like a boiler so there is no need for expensive retrofits. Because of this we are already taking a significant number of pre-orders[sic] from homeowners across the country keen to decarbonise their homes and get off oil and gas, yet unable to make the economics of alternative technologies such as heat pumps, work for them.”
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
