Still no sign of Sunamp / Ripple trial scheme

[Mr Gus]

This was due to be announced in early? Jan 2023, have I missed anything?Long Duration Energy Storage Trial

29/11/2022
Today we're announcing our involvement in an exciting new government funded trial. The Long Duration Energy Storage trial will see 100 UK homes fitted with a new heat pump and a battery for one year alongside a Ripple wind farm share.

The scheme is funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industry Strategy (BEIS) alongside Sun Amp, experts in energy-efficient, sustainable thermal storage solutions. Sunamp is to receive £9.25 million to develop and trial its advanced thermal storage system in 100 homes across the UK. The trial aims to provide increased storage duration and capacity and pair it with household energy systems.

We’re so pleased to be working alongside Sunamp and other innovators in the energy space to tackle the greener heat challenge.

We know many of you have expressed an interest in owning heat pump/battery solutions in the future and therefore may be interested in this trial. We will be in touch in the new year with more information about how members can put themselves forward to take part"

Original text from ripple dashboard (I only log in about 1x per quarter)

(for those not on the info-train, the two companies were meant to be conducting a trial with some 100 Sunamp units (of with there are 4 generations of this scotland based tech currently) for instant heat at 55-65c as a replacement HWT which atypically takes less space)


https://sunamp.com/en-gb/how-thermal-batteries-work/

I've started the thread in case anyone wants to spin the wheel & go for this tech, better to know, in order to be in the running.

My natural concern is that after 1 year, considering its from the taxpayer as a grant, these may be ripped out or you are asked to pay to keep them ..which considering the upheaval to remove, fit, remove re-fit is a lot of hassle & storage of ancillary kit elsewhere for a year, worst case scenario.

based on this line... The Long Duration Energy Storage trial will see 100 UK homes fitted with a new heat pump and a battery for one year alongside a Ripple wind farm share.

[Moxi]

I d be interested but obviously need them to give details- happy with the try before you buy concept

Moxi

[AlBargey]

My natural concern is that after 1 year, considering its from the taxpayer as a grant, these may be ripped out or you are asked to pay to keep them ..which considering the upheaval to remove, fit, remove re-fit is a lot of hassle & storage of ancillary kit elsewhere for a year, worst case scenario.

If they're still the same manufacturing / technology as the earlier version, judging by the two systems I've personally come across, where the first one had to be completely replaced by another system as they split open and leaked salt crystals everywhere causing no end of problems for the owners, second one similar, but just replaced with newer models I think. So I'd be surprised if they lasted for the first year!

Nice idea in principle, hopefully they've ironed out the issues.

[marshman]

If they're still the same manufacturing / technology as the earlier version, judging by the two systems I've personally come across, where the first one had to be completely replaced by another system as they split open and leaked salt crystals everywhere causing no end of problems for the owners, second one similar, but just replaced with newer models I think. So I'd be surprised if they lasted for the first year!

Nice idea in principle, hopefully they've ironed out the issues.

OldGreyBeard, who used to post frequently on here, installed a Sunamp unit for his DHW. He replaced his conventional hot water cylinder as he said the losses with Sunamp were less. As far as I know it had been in use with for a number of years without issue and he seemed quite happy with it.

[sharpener]

Nice idea in principle, hopefully they've ironed out the issues.

They also told me they were going to re-introduce them as a thermal store for domestic c.h. sometime this year. This would be ideal with an HT ASHP as most of the stored energy is released at ~58 deg rather than the temp decaying exponentially over time. But I am not holding my breath and am looking at a big conventionl hw tank (or two of them) as an alternative, fitted in the space occupied by a big, old, oil boiler. My encounters with their dealer network a year ago were not encouraging.

[AlBargey]

Didn't fully charged do a showcase of Robert Llewellyn's similar format solid thermal store type thing? Although maybe not a salt type storage medium.

If the sunamp doesn't need high temperature input to be efficient then an ASHP could work well. It would be interesting to hear others real world experiences of them, @oldgreybeard?, but running a resistive 18kW or so slim Jim on economy 7 to store in a sunamp and release when needed seems like an expensive bad idea. Especially if they're prone to splitting the casing and leaking? Maybe the only two installs I've come across we're unlucky though?

[Mr Gus]

The contextual cause for splitting would be helpful to understand what it was, bad shipping, assembly or other influences, as would the process for controlling a "leak" shoring up a split, clean up ..which with a phase change material "might" be as simple as a cold spray, & some adhesive skin type tape ..could be some easily exploitable advantages to market here even if it is a product failure within a domestic setting.

Mind you I'm the type to ring up & get prices for " likely wear / fail points" from chair distributors & charger manufacturers alike as part of the vfm & service potential (& actually the herman miller polished aluminium chair
spares are "acceptable" if it is a long way down the road replacement mesh base or similar . .a pleasant surprise when I put a reserve on our needlessly heavily discounted yet pristine JL shop floor unit) ..& boy is it comfortable.

Failure isnt necessarily a bad thing if steered on a correctional course, the prospect of scalding water or molten alternative needs thought & perspective, like whats the ooze/ spillage rate & clean up costs as well as refill / top outs if like a pocket warmer it fades out & loses efficiency.

Trouble these days is getting past "know it all screen reading **customer service** c0ckblockers" & talking to the parts & repair teams to do that.