Heat pumps are central to the UK’s decarbonisation pathway, providing a scalable route to low‑carbon heat across domestic, commercial and industrial sectors. However, with the persistent gap between electricity and fossil‑fuel prices, system performance and optimisation are critical. Through innovation, rigorous design practice and targeted application, we deliver heat‑pump schemes that achieve competitive, reliable and resilient heat costs.
Our team has extensive experience in feasibility assessment, technical advisory, system design and implementation support across a wide range of heat‑pump technologies. Our portfolio includes projects utilising heat from wastewater recovery systems, data centres, large closed‑loop borefields, open aquifers, flooded mines, treatment works, and large‑scale air‑source collectors. These solutions serve both single‑site applications and complex district‑heating networks.
As an independent consultancy, we take a technology‑agnostic, whole‑system approach to heat‑pump design and specification. We maintain a comprehensive database of manufacturer performance data across varying operating conditions, enabling us to build dynamic hourly models that simulate real‑world performance based on source temperatures and system operating regimes. These simulations generate detailed hourly COP profiles, which feed directly into our techno‑economic assessments, providing robust insight into lifetime performance, cost of heat and carbon savings under realistic operating conditions.
Waste water source
Sustainable Energy has extensive application expertise in integrating air source heat pumps, taking projects from feasibility studies through to detailed design and implementation. Our experience covers recovering energy from heat sources and using specialist heat pump technology to raise temperatures for heat networks and specialist heat processes.
We have taken projects from early feasibility through to detailed design. We have monitored wastewater data, flow rates, temperatures, and seasonal variations to determine the technical and economic benefits of extracting waste heat. We develop designs for specialist heat exchangers, equipment boundaries, and technology options, and consider maintenance access, operational impacts, land use, and likely costs like wayleaves or rent. Our goal is to develop solutions that are technically sound, practical to operate, and commercially viable.
Ground source
We have extensive expertise in ground energy systems. We provide full support for ground source heat pump solutions, from feasibility through to detailed design, implementation, and operation. We assess geological and ground conditions, including thermal conductivity and suitability for vertical and directional boreholes and horizontal arrays. We develop specifications for test boreholes, manage drilling programmes, and design the borefield layouts.
Our modelling develops spacing for boreholes to charge and avoid depleting the ground resource and ensure long-term efficiency. Our ground source borefields designs have included seasonal energy storage, capturing heat from cooling systems in summer for winter use and storing coolth in winter for summer cooling. System layout, pipework, plant access, and environmental and regulatory factors are all considered, providing a technically robust, practical, and commercially viable solutions.
Air source
We developed low temperature schemes for individual buildings and 2-stage heat pumps schemes to deliver higher temperatures. By assessing available space for heat pump air heat exchangers, ensuring the layout works for both operation and maintenance. We developed low-temperature schemes for individual buildings and 2-stage heat pump schemes to deliver higher temperatures.
By assessing available space for heat pump air heat exchangers, ensuring the layout works for both operation and maintenance. Noise, cold plume and visual impacts are modelled to ensure impacts on local surroundings are fully considered with guidance and design for acoustic and visual screening where needed. We have working experience with most leading manufacturers of air source heat pumps, seeing schemes through the development cycle from hourly modelling air source COPs all the way through to continuous monitoring and performance verification.
If your project needs an independently designed and verified system performance, we have the experience, real-world track record and unrivalled databases of air source heat pump performance data. Our hourly air source heat pump models ensure schemes are technically robust, practical, and a commercially viable, tailored application solution.
Open water source
The benefits of abstracting open water sources are scale and efficiency where multi megawatts can be sourced from small water side abstraction constructions. Sustainable Energy has developed many heat pump schemes using open water sources, including river water source heat pumps, harbour water source heat pumps as well as water from aquifers.
For river and harbour sources, we have monitored and modelled flowing water volume, temperature variations to model hourly water abstraction to heat pumps. Our project experience covers assessments of the ecological impacts of returning discharge water. We have developed designs and solutions for open water abstraction strainers, filtration systems, pumping systems and discharge and purge systems. We have modelled different filtration types and developed novel low-pressure loss systems to maximise overall seasonal COP performance
Water abstraction systems, piled structures, cantilevered structures as well as intake structures, considering land ownership, impacts on water users, pipe routing and design to energy centres, maintenance, fouling, and permits and licences. Our project results have been practical, technically robust, and commercially viable solutions.
Mine water source
Mine water from treatment works and from disused mine workings provides higher temperatures, but benefits come with the challenges. We know the challenges and have developed many heat pump schemes using mine water sources.
We have worked with the Mine Remediation Authority on several UK schemes to develop, design, commercialise and procure contracts for mine water energy schemes; understanding the process from the initial desktop studies, to drilling specifications and developing projects through to Outline Business Cases. We are experienced in the specific mine water properties to ensure heat exchange and pumping requirements and have designed offtakes for mine water treatment systems.
Data Centres
We deliver end‑to‑end services for integrating data‑centre waste heat into heat networks — from early feasibility through to detailed design and implementation. Our assessments quantify the available heat, evaluate temperature profiles and variability, and determine how best to integrate the recovered energy as either a primary or supplementary heat source.
We review connection points, space requirements for heat exchangers, and how the solution interfaces with existing cooling and power infrastructure. Operational impacts, reliability, maintenance access, and regulatory or contractual considerations are all factored into the design. The outcome is a technically robust, practical, and commercially viable solution tailored to both the data centre and the receiving heat network.
Industrial Waste Heat
We provide comprehensive services for capturing and utilising waste heat from industrial processes and production facilities. From feasibility studies to detailed design and implementation, we assess the quantity, temperature, and variability of recoverable heat and advise on the most effective integration strategy for the heat network.
Our work includes reviewing connection points, identifying space for heat‑exchange equipment, and assessing any operational impacts on the host facility. Reliability, maintenance access, and regulatory or contractual requirements are carefully considered throughout. The result is a technically sound, operationally practical, and commercially viable solution that supports both the industrial facility and the wider heat network.
Building Integrated heat pumps
Maximising heat‑pump efficiency starts with minimising the temperature lift between the heat source and the building’s heating circuits, while recovering and reusing energy wherever possible. Achieving high COPs — and therefore low operating costs — depends on a whole‑building approach to system design.
We carry out detailed design reviews for both new‑build and existing buildings, assessing opportunities to improve building services, upgrade systems, and optimise integration with low‑temperature heat sources. Our expertise spans hot‑water generation, ventilation and heat recovery, and a wide range of heating system configurations, enabling us to deliver buildings that operate efficiently and reliably.
Our support covers the full upgrade journey — from cost‑benefit analysis and lifetime carbon assessment through to technical design input, installation oversight, commissioning, and connection to low‑temperature heat‑pump or heat‑network supplies.
Our experience includes ground‑source and air‑source heat pumps, as well as energy‑recovery solutions that capture waste heat from cooling systems, server rooms, and other building processes.
