What is HAPS?
The HAPS project is a part of the Swansea Bay City Deal (SBCD) portfolio, a regional project led by Neath Port Talbot Council. The aim of the project is to stimulate and support the housing sector in the region to adopt the HAPS approach via a £5.75m Financial Incentives Fund and to develop a supply chain to support the demand for HAPS technology via a further £7m fund.
What is the HAPS approach?
The HAPS approach is to adopt energy efficient systems to reduce a home’s reliance on existing energy networks; measures which will create a home that is better for the environment and more cost effective to run. Typically this will consist of PV solar panels, heat pumps, batteries and mechanical ventilation heat recovery systems.
Why do we need to adopt the HAPS approach?
We need to move quickly to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels to heat and run our homes in order to move towards our goal of net zero. Instability in the energy markets has pushed thousands of homes in the region into fuel poverty. The HAPS project aims to move thousands of households away from fossil fuel heating systems and significantly reduce their energy bills. By choosing cleaner and greener alternatives, the HAPS approach will also have a positive impact on people’s health, in particular respiratory wellbeing.
Who will benefit from the HAPS project?
The project is ambitious, it aims to facilitate the adoption of the HAPS approach in 7000 retrofit and 3300 new build homes, but it doesn’t stop there. The HAPS project will seed the uptake of low energy systems through the SBCD region and into Wales as a whole via a £5.75m Financial Incentive Fund. The monitoring data gained from HAPS will inform, educate and confirm the effectiveness of the low energy systems to further accelerate their implementation in Welsh homes and benefit all of us.
What is the Financial Incentives Fund?
We have £5.75m to incentivise Registered Social Landlords (RSL’s), Local Authorities and Private Sector developers and landlords to install technology into homes to create houses that are cleaner, greener and more efficient to run. We are encouraging a range of applications to propose schemes right across the region at various stages of planning and delivery, to enable monitoring of various styles of accommodation, for both new build and retrofit houses. To maximise this funding opportunity, HAPS funding in many cases will complement and add value to other funding streams, this may include Optimised Retrofit Programme.
Who is eligible for the HAPS Financial Incentives Fund?
Applications must relate to houses based in the Swansea Bay City Deal area, specifically homes in Neath Port Talbot, Swansea, Carmarthenshire or Pembrokeshire postcodes. To check a property or land location use the following link Find your local council - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
What will we learn from the HAPS project?
The HAPS project has commissioned the Welsh School of Architecture at Cardiff University to monitor and evaluate the performance of the HAPS technology, to measure the benefits realised in terms of reduction in energy use and financial savings to those who live in HAPS homes. We will publish this data to inform and encourage more individuals and enterprises to adopt the HAPS approach.
How can you find out more about HAPS?
We will be holding a series of events to engage interested parties, to launch the Supply Chain Development Fund, the Financial Incentive fund and share our monitoring findings.
Our email address in HAPS@npt.gov.uk
