By Andrew Gaved, Editor-at-Large, elemental and Installer
Can I begin with an apology. If the Golden Triangle, referring to the technology trio of solar PV, BESS (battery energy storage systems) and heat pumps, is a phrase the electrical industry has happily been using for ages, then please forgive me, as I only became familiar with it a couple of weeks ago. If it is new to any of you, then watch out – I think we are going to be using it a lot more.
My excuse is something that many people might have accepted in the past, but, I would argue, isn’t really going to be acceptable much longer. You see until I was lured away to the world of digital and exhibitions last year, I edited a heating magazine, and thus considered myself a heating editor. In those days, the worlds of solar PV and BESS were something for the editors of ‘other sectors.’
For the decarbonised world we are working towards, I don’t believe we can afford to look at things in such a siloed way any more. The key part to be played by electrification, with heat pumps looking set to be the primary means of low carbon heating, and heat batteries and infrared all part of the mix, should prompt more collaboration between what I will call the ‘traditional heating sector’ and the electrical sector. But the problem is, for too many people who work within the heating industry, ‘heating’ still really only means gas and water systems. This has been brought home to me at a couple of recent events where both times, the well-discussed problem of how to increase the number of heat pump installers focused exclusively on how best to convert gas installers into heat pump specialists rather than widening the pool to those who already have proven electrical skills. Sure, we do need lots of gas installers to convert, but we also need to see lots of electrical contractors too.
This brings me back to the Golden Triangle. I first heard the phrase at the launch last month of the Segen Academy, where the renewables distributor has the bold ambition of creating a new cohort of multidisciplinary renewables installers. As a distributor, Segen’s historic heartland is in solar and storage, but they are building on the Golden Triangle by introducing heat pumps to their portfolio, and from the spring they will be adding heat pump training to the Academy curriculum. They see lots of potential in the connection of the low carbon heat pump to the solar generation, so as to offset any potential increases to electricity bills, with the storage providing a way to benefit from smart tariffs.
This approach is distinctly different to the way that training has been approached by much of the traditional heating sector, which has been more focused on bolting the heat pumps alongside their plumbing or gas courses. But it puts the whole theme of ‘multidisciplinary renewables skills’ into the spotlight, and the fact that the Segen Academy is homing in on the ‘traditional electrical sector’ for both residential and commercial installation spells a great opportunity.
You can be sure that at the 2025 InstallerSHOW (24-26 June at the NEC) we will be playing our part in the debate around both electrification and multidisciplinary skills, and, we hope, breaking down some of those traditional sector barriers between electrical and heating.
And, for the first-time next year, we will be able to look in more detail at those bigger installations as we launch the elementalLONDON show on 19-20 November, which is dedicated to the efficient operation of buildings, both new build and in use. Again, we will be keen to reach out to electrical contractors – decarbonised heating needs you!
