Modern Energy Partners (MEP) was a two-year, £20million innovation pilot exploring how to decarbonise complex campus-style sites across the public sector estate to help Government reduce carbon emission by 50% by 2032.

The project was a collaborative cross-departmental programme, coordinated and delivered by Energy Systems Catapult and funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Cabinet Office, with additional match funding from pathfinder sites.

MEP investigated a test bed of 42 sites responsible for over 4 million tCO₂e carbon emissions – equating to 3.2% of Ministry of Defence (MOD), 13% of Ministry of Justice (MOJ) and 3.5% of NHS sites, including three pathfinder sites:

• HM Sheppey Prison Cluster
• HMS Collingwood – Royal Navy base
• NHS Goole and District Hospital

MEP developed systematic, repeatable and scalable approaches to decarbonising sites. Firstly, the rapid deployment of data gathering technologies and techniques to appraise the net zero potential of sites – including installating telemetry across 23 sites.

Secondly, a range of tools and templates allowing sites to develop decarbonisation plans – including plans for 24 sites to reduce emissions on average by 70% by 2032. Thirdly, MEP carried out initial carbon reduction works at the three pathfinder sites – including installing 21,515 LEDs light bulbs and smart Building Management Systems that now control 176,990 m2 of buildings.

Energy Systems Catapult is management contractor for the £16.5 million Electrification of Heat (EoH) Demonstration Trial on behalf of the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. EoH aims to demonstration the feasibility of a large-scale roll-out of heat pumps in Great Britain by installing the low carbon technology in 750 homes.

The Catapult managed three delivery consortiums on the project:

• South East of Scotland – lead delivery contractor Warmworks working with Energy Savings Trust and Changeworks.
• Newcastle – lead delivery contractor E.ON working with Newcastle City Council and Your Homes Newcastle.
• South East of England – lead delivery contractor Ovo Energy working with Kaluza, RetrofitWorks, Parity Projects and Sunamp.

The project aims to:

• Develop, test and evaluate products and services that increase the appeal of heat pumps and identify optimal solutions for a wide range of homes.
• Demonstrate that heat pumps, including gas-electric hybrids, can deliver high consumer satisfaction across a wide range of consumers.
• Demonstrate the practical and technical feasibility of heat pumps, including gas-electric hybrids, across Great Britain’s diverse housing stock, as well as identifying the costs.
• Capture learning from the project to help improve awareness across the renewable heating supply chain, raise acceptance and support wider deployment of heat pumps in Great Britain.