SDC event
Nik Spencer, entrepreneur and founder of HERU, is among the guest speakers at the Driving Innovation and Growth Summit which is being organised by Stratford-on-Avon District Council, the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (CWLEP) Growth Hub and the University of Warwick in Wellesbourne on February 17.
In this blog, he highlights the innovation taking place at HERU and its impact in the area.
“Mission HERU will be manufacturing two million Hybrid Heat Pumps globally per annum over the next 15 years utilising advanced manufacturing techniques, creating 50,000 new highly skilled jobs and clean growth.
“Our vision through design and volume production is to make the HERU hybrid heat pump available to every person and every organisation globally to significantly reduce CO2 and methane emissions whilst significantly reducing “waste” arisings and plastic pollution.
“500,000 HERU Hybrid Heat Pumps will be advanced manufactured here in the UK, providing global trade and investment whilst making a significant contribution to net zero globally as evidenced in the independent life cycle assessment carried out by Ricardo Energy & Environment.
“The new facilities will create a hotbed of innovation in the arena of emission reduction, renewable energy generation and heat pumps, promote regeneration and the creation of highly skilled jobs.
“The Midlands has a wealth and depth of knowledge and experience in the world of volume production with its rich heritage of automobile manufacturing. As advanced manufacturing and automation is the inevitable journey for this industry to continually improve productivity the clean energy business is well placed to take full advantage of this invaluable skill set transition employing these highly skilled people as automation creates displacement. The heat pump industry will need to adopt these volume production advanced manufacturing skills, in order to provide affordable clean heating systems for homes and business of the future.
“Stratford-on-Avon District Council and Warwickshire are no strangers to supporting Innovation and creative business that improve the environment as we witnessed when building Pure Recycling with some of the most advanced technologies available.
“The challenges we face in the UK to scale manufacturing are largely concluded in the new “Freeport” business parks being promoted. Planning consent, energy infrastructure to power the new factories and tax breaks to promote investment.
“To enable the scaling of advanced manufacturing of innovation in the local area we must have a local solution as the stepping stone to the Freeports and/or a local authority solution that provides the same or similar commitment.
“The question remains where in the district do we begin the journey to the eventual circa 40-hectare factory facility required to home Mission HERU’s manufacturing and its global research and development facility?”