Last week, Director of Star Renewable Energy Dave Pearson shared ideas with attendees of All-Energy 2018 in Glasgow as he delivered a segment on heat.

The All-Energy exhibition and Conference which attracts thousands of professionals from the renewable and low carbon energy sector, set the perfect scene to gather interested parties in low carbon water source heatpumps manufactured and installed by SRE.

On 3rd May 2018 Mr Pearson took part in a panel discussion and delivered a presentation about the challenges of delivering industrial scale water source heat pumps and in particular talked about the Gorbals Heat Pump project which is expected to provide heating to residential properties and business in the area. The heat pump to be deployed in the river Clyde in Glasgow is the UKs first high temperature and largest inner-city water source heat pump and will deliver immediate 50% carbon reductions by providing over 80% of the connected buildings heat requirements.

Dave Pearson said, "We are determined to deliver Scottish government goals to decarbonised the heat system by 2050. Industrial sized heat pumps which draw warmth from the easy to find and assess rivers, lakes, and the sea will play a key role in achieving carbon reduction targets as they are a proven technology capable of delivering zero carbon heat on a large scale for both district heating and industrial process purposes. However as we travel further in this journey we find unexpected and unintended barriers needing swift resolutions. We must get better at solving these barriers or little progress swill be made."

Average grid intensity over the 2nd All-Energy day was about 250g/kWh, so the Gorbals heat pump will be about 85g/kWh or 62% less than gas."

He added, "Star is looking forward to continuing the project with a successful partnership of all parties involved, and at the conference we have hopefully made the case for more heat pump projects across the UK. By far the most bizarre challenge is that energy centres and district heating are likely to have to pay non-domestic rates. So whilst we sell £130k of heat we have to give 75% of that revenue back to the local government in tax when the dirty gas boilers which are emitting CO2 and NOx pay nothing. Its just a mistake but if we dont fix it we will be have to point fingers and ask tough questions as to why this isnt being resolved. We hear of the Barclay review but how hard is to spot a mistake and fix it?"

As part of the exhibition, Star developed a virtual reality simulation of a heat pump to display at the exhibition with advice from Strathclyde University in Glasgow. The VR simulation depicts the water source heat pump and its enclosure, as a realistic interpretation of the Gorbals installation which harvests heat from the river water to provide low carbon, affordable heating and hot water to homes and businesses.

The heat pump VR rig was a great success and attracted lots of visitors to the stand. As part of the simulations there was an anagram to solve which attendees could take part in to win an Apple watch as part of a prize draw. The winner was Eilidh Clark from Scottish Renewables, who said "Winning the Apple Watch in Star Renewable Energys prize draw was a happy surprise and a brilliant end to the All-Energy showcase.

"The Virtual Reality game was a fun, interactive way of getting people in for a chat on what Neatpumps can offer."

The All-Energy event takes place annually at The Scottish Events Campus (SEC) which is on the banks of the river Clyde - where the water source heat pump is expected to be deployed. Next years event will be on 15 and 16 May 2019.

Pearson concluded, "maybe one year the SEC will be carbon free but as there is not yet any pressure to decrease gas combustion in society it wont be any time soon so we must accept a "fail" in that exam."

For more information about the All-Energy Exhibition and Conference visit http://www.all-energy.co.uk

To find out more about Star Renewable Energy and the companys ground-breaking district heating projects, visit http://www.neatpumps.com