Scottish family business recognised for UK-leading innovation – Scottish Business News

Sunamp, a shortlisted finalist for this year’s prestigious MacRobert Award, has pioneered innovative heat batteries using phase change materials to revolutionise thermal energy storage.

These advanced batteries store and release large amounts of thermal energy by melting and solidifying the specially developed phase change materials, providing a highly efficient and sustainable solution for heating and cooling applications.

Current products provide heat storage for domestic hot water that is more space-efficient and energy-efficient than traditional hot water cylinders.

Sunamp’s heat batteries offer superior energy density, rapid response times, and long-lasting performance compared to traditional storage methods.

By integrating this cutting-edge technology into homes, businesses, and industrial processes, Sunamp is making significant strides forward in the quest for sustainable energy solutions by helping to reduce carbon emissions, enhance energy efficiency and alleviate fuel poverty.

Sunamp was up against GraphCast, Google DeepMind’s AI weather forecasting technology, and the manufacturing and scale-up of the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine by the Oxford Vaccine Consortium, including The University of Oxford and AstraZeneca. Google DeepMind was presented the award at last night’s ceremony.

Andrew Bissell, co-founder and CEO at Sunamp, said: “Our innovation journey from startup to standing alongside global giants in engineering and innovation is a testament to the commitment of a very talented, mixed-discipline team.

“It has been a huge privilege to work with stars like Dr David Oliver who invented our stabilised formulation for Plentigrade phase change material which delivers exceptional performance over tens of thousands of cycles; Maurizio Zaglio bringing fresh ideas from academia to model and refine the heat exchange process; Sandy Gataora bringing to bear decades of expertise from the world of HVAC and the whole team crossing disciplinary boundaries to bring something needed and new into the world.

“Overcoming these many significant engineering challenges, is not just an innovation; it’s a beacon of hope for reducing carbon emissions from heating and cooling around the world.

“It’s also not just a lab curiosity – we have manufactured over 30,000 heat batteries so far, enabling businesses, homeowners, social landlords and tenants to switch from polluting heat sources to renewable heat.

“We are just in the foothills today – we are very ambitious and focussed about scaling up both demand and production capacity for our products with partners to tackle decarbonisation and fuel poverty all over the world and at all scales including removing the fossil fuels from industrial heat via our thermal storage.

“Being nominated for the Macrobert award is amazing recognition that underscores the profound impact dedicated teams can have on society and the planet, proving that with the right vision and determination, even the smallest players can drive monumental change.”