Rendesco is in the low-carbon heat network industry, specialising in the design and construction of heat networks powered by ground source heat pump (GSHP) technology. Serving homes across the UK, Rendesco delivers significant amounts of low-carbon heat annually, reducing CO2 emissions and providing a sustainable heating and hot water solution. Known for their commitment to quality and bespoke design, Rendesco customises each project to meet unique requirements, ensuring successful outcomes.

Rendesco joined the University of Birmingham’s Climate Innovation Programme (CIP) cohort 3, supported by HSBC UK and funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The CIP programme delivers a series of business development opportunities to support businesses committed to driving energy technology innovation.

The innovation

Rendesco is developing a smart Energy Centre Management System (ECMS). This advanced system will integrate remote monitoring capabilities with an enhanced sensor array, offering detailed analysis of network efficiencies and faster fault detection. The ECMS will consolidate data from various sources into a user-friendly graphical interface for engineers and end-users. This innovation aims to improve performance management, reduce maintenance costs, and enable broader deployment across Rendesco’s portfolio. Additionally, the ECMS can be white labeled for other renewable companies, expanding its impact and utility in the renewable energy sector.

The challenge

As a newly formed innovation team with a strong technical, academic and commercial background, Rendesco’s innovation team benefited from additional expert advice on the business aspects of their innovation, including on their product development process, data management, intellectual property (IP) strategy, and crafting a sustainable, scalable business model for the new product.

The main industry challenges Rendesco is tackling include:

• Cost-effectiveness: Ensuring that GSHPs are available at competitive prices, matching or beating the cost of ASHPs to make them a viable option for developers and end-users.
• Efficiency and reliability: Developing systems that offer superior performance compared to traditional heating methods and other renewable alternatives.
• Network management: Creating innovative solutions to enhance the efficiency, monitoring, and maintenance of heat networks.
• Market transformation: Making heat networks more accessible and affordable for developers and end-users, leading to significant carbon emission reductions.

The solution

Through the CIP Programme, Rendesco benefitted from:

• Several innovation workshops
• Interactions with specialists
• Working alongside an incubation manager
• Receiving one-to-one support from digital and data specialists

Impact

• Specialists provided impactful advice, enhancing results and efficiency.
• The CIP initiative led to valuable external engagements, with many connections traced back to initial CIP events and consultants.
• By connecting to Innovate UK local advisors, Rendesco received IP consultation.
• One-to-one support from the Catapult’s Data and Digital team led to the development of a Data Management Canvas.
• Define data stakeholders and their needs
• Identify data sources and collection methods
• Determine where efficiencies can be created by storing and backing up data and how best to store it
• Identify relevant data governance framework and priority areas for investigation and development
• Identify where data has value within the organization and where value could be created for future use cases beyond current Rendesco projects
• Understand the importance of a robust data management strategy which is aligned with sustainable business model, and how the components of the data management canvas help to develop this

Next steps

The next step for Rendesco is to further test and develop its innovation in further challenging environments, such as deploying in remote locations, interfacing and integrating with legacy and emerging technologies, and creating compact configurations to address spacing constraints.