Spotlight on: hybrids with Ideal Heating Commercial’s Chris Caton

Joe Dart speaks to Chris Caton at Ideal Heating Commercial about the role hybrid technology can play in helping existing commercial buildings decarbonise.

Decarbonisation is the name of the game across the built environment space. If we don’t decarbonise, at pace, the UK will fail to meet its 2050 Net Zero obligations.

Heat pumps have led the discussions for the last few years, but it is well known that they aren’t a like-for-like technology with gas boilers. So, what’s the answer for those building owners or managers that want to decarbonise but can’t yet visualise a heat pump-only future, or just don’t have the resources at hand to finance it? Chris Caton, Product Director – Commercial at Ideal Heating, says that hybrids – a mix of gas boilers and heat pumps – could well be the answer.

He explains: “Our customers will say to us: ‘I want to go green and to save money’. But unfortunately the current landscape with the spark gap and the cost of heat pumps, you can do one or the other. And that’s when the conversation really starts around hybrids.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, cost is a major factor as to why hybrids are increasingly being considered across retrofit projects.

Government has put billions in funding aside to facilitate decarbonisation of public sector buildings. For example, Phase 3 of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) alone granted £1.425 billion over the financial years 2022 to 2023 and 2025 to 2026.

Chris says the organisations that are lucky enough to receive this funding won’t consider the hybrid route, as they will have the financial means to achieve full scale decarbonisation. But given funding is limited, not every public sector organisation will have received it.

As a result, many will have to look at alternative routes to decarbonise, as Chris explains: “In the last round of PSDS, only half of the applicants secured funding. So for those that got funding, great, they can go off and do their decarbonisation. The other half has got an ambition to decarbonise, but now can’t necessarily afford it because they’ve not got the funding.”

Resultingly, the public sector organisations that fell through the funding safety net are now considering hybrids more seriously.

When looking at the private sector by comparison, Chris says it is harder for building operator to swap to heat pumps entirely because the funding isn’t there. But he has observed differences in approaches in how decarbonisation is approached.

He says: “Big corporations like retailers have got a decarbonisation strategy and they’re looking at changing stores over to heat pumps. And then you’ve got people on the other end of the scale who are just doing a boiler swap because they can’t afford it and it’s not a priority for them.”

But there is a middle ground, and that’s where Chris sees the most potential for hybrid systems. He explains: “You’ve got those who are motivated to start that journey but because of the cost of the upgrade it’s too prohibitive to go to a 100% heat pump system. So they’re starting to find that equilibrium between going hybrid and bringing down the cost of the investment in the overall building.”

When it comes to larger buildings, there’s lots of flexibility in how hybrids can be approached as you’re typically dealing with multiple units. But, what’s the best way to approach finding the right mix?

Chris says that when decarbonisation is the main focus, heat pumps “should always be the lead source”. “It’s about how much heat pump you can get on site to meet the need of the building,” he adds.

But there are extenuating circumstances that could affect this. Chris notes that with more heat pumps, there’s the electricity supply to consider and whether the grid connection can be made available or not. Capital costs have to be considered as well as heat pumps are “several times more expensive than equivalent boilers”. After all that’s been evaluated, it’s important to then figure out what boiler need is required to supplement the heat pump output.

Chris says: “Hybrid is all about compromise, it’s about trying to find the most efficient way of getting a step forward on your decarbonisation rather than just not starting that journey at all.”

For those businesses taking the plunge on a hybrid system, Chris says “envelope-first” approach is required and advises individuals to identify to the level to which they plan to upgrade the efficiency of the building before the heating system is upgraded.

He says: “You can go all the way and that’s a high cost, or you can make some smaller upgrades like moving to double glazing or looking at your levels of insulation. And then that will help you work out what equipment you can put in there and what running costs that might represent as well.”

Another piece of advice Chris offers for anyone looking to install a heat pump on their project is to speak to their Distribution Network Operator (DNO) at the outset to ensure that there’s capacity for your installation to be added to the electrical grid.

Chris explains: “Right at the conception of thinking you might go for a heat pump, make that inquiry with the DNO because the way the DNOs operate, if there’s a grid connection available, they’ll tell you, but it’s still on a first come, first serve basis.

Although there are challenges involved with the installation of hybrid systems, manufacturers such as Ideal Heating Commercial have resources to support specifiers on the first step of their decarbonisation journey. For example, the company’s specification team can provide advice about the right equipment for a project.

Training is also available from Ideal Heating Commercial. A range of CPDs are designed to provide customers with the knowledge they need to successfully specify and design commercial heating systems. They are delivered nationwide by the Ideal Heating Commercial’s specification team and via BESA’s online platform.

The company also hosts in-person training at Ideal Heating’s BESA, BPEC and City & Guilds assessment Centres of Excellence at Bridgehead in Hessle, Leeds, Dalgety Bay and Luton. All these premises have been completely refurbished to convert them into state-of-the-art training facilities, with Ideal Heating Commercial product displays installed so attendees can get interactive, hands-on training.

Chris says: “At our sites we can offer commercial product training free of charge, but we also do City & Guilds F-Gas and BPEC heat pump systems programme at affordable rates compared to a lot of the competitors.

“And the difference with our F-Gas training is it’s tuned to work alongside heat pumps, whereas if you go to other providers to do refrigerant type training, for example it’s all chiller-based, so it doesn’t really translate across to heat pumps. So we’re quite unique in how we approach that and how we deliver it.”

So, what does the future hold for hybrids? Are they likely to become the dominant choice in commercial building retrofit? Chris does expect hybrids to grow in popularity, but doesn’t see them overtaking pure heat pump installations. Hybrids are here for the foreseeable future, however, and it’s about approaching installations “diligently” and ensuring that it’s not just a “tick-box exercise”.

He concludes: “Ultimately, we’ve got to make sure we’ve got everything in the portfolio to meet the needs of the market. We have the right technology at the right time and a mix of them in this case.”