SMETER Innovation Competition: Phase 2

BEIS are soon to publish a new SMETER Competition Call on their innovations in the built environment webpage (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/innovations-in-the-built-environment). The aim of the SMETER programme is to develop and demonstrate tools to robustly measure the thermal performance of homes. It is focussed on measuring the heat transfer coefficient (HTC) of homes, and could therefore integrate with SAP (including RdSAP) which underpins many existing policies. The expectation is that the HTC of the home will be based on energy consumption data (e.g. through smart meters) plus other supporting data but the applicant can propose alternatives. Its aim is to help consumers, energy suppliers, providers of energy efficiency products and services, and policy-makers to save energy, reduce bills and carbon emissions, by providing a better understanding of the energy efficiency of homes. The Government webpage (details above) also provides details of a previous SMETER Competition Call. This included two phases of activity: Phase 1 to develop the SMETER technology and Phase 2 to demonstrate its performance through a field trial. This new call is looking for SMETER products which are already at a commercial stage of development, who are not looking for funding for development, but are ready to participate (together with the previously funded SMETER products) in the Phase 2 field trials to demonstrate their performance. Successful applicants will benefit from significant support by BEIS who have funded an expert contractor to run the field trials and evaluate the different SMETER technologies (there is no direct funding to the successful applicants). Any published results will be anonymised. If you have any questions regarding the SMETER Competition Call, please send an email through to builtenvironmentinnovation@beis.gov.uk