Scottish firm behind pioneering 'heat batteries' goes head-to-head with Google and AstraZeneca for UK’s top engineering award

An East Lothian heat battery pioneer is vying for the UK’s top engineering accolade, going up against global giants Google and AstraZeneca.

The thermal storage technology developed by Macmerry-based Sunamp, groundbreaking AI-powered weather forecasting and the rapid manufacturing scale-up of a Covid vaccine are each competing for the Royal Academy of Engineering’s MacRobert Award. The innovations, developed by Sunamp, Google DeepMind and the University of Oxford Vaccine Consortium with AstraZeneca, have been named as the finalists for the UK’s longest running and most prestigious prize for engineering innovation, now in its 55th year. The winning team will take home £50,000 and will be announced at the Academy Awards Dinner in London on July 9.

This year’s finalists come from some of the UK’s fastest growing technology and engineering sectors. UK-registered companies in these sectors have a turnover of up to £111 billion and employ nearly 500,000 across their UK and international operations, according to The Data City insight.

Sunamp chief executive and co-founder Andrew Bissell. Picture: Malcolm Cochrane

Sunamp, which was set up in 2005, is a pioneer in the development of thermal storage systems. Its thermal batteries are up to four times smaller and are said to store up to four times more energy than the hot water tanks they replace. They can be charged by a range of energy sources. Current products provide heat storage for domestic hot water that are more space efficient and energy efficient than traditional hot water cylinders.

By integrating the cutting-edge tech into homes, businesses and industrial processes, the company 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.

Chief executive and co-founder Andrew Bissell said: “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.

“It has been a privilege to work with the likes of Dr David Oliver who invented our stabilised formulation for Plentigrade phase change material; 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 [heating, ventilation and air conditioning] and the whole team crossing disciplinary boundaries to bring something needed and new into the world. Overcoming these 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.”

East Lothian-based Sunamp, which was set up in 2005, is a pioneer in the development of thermal storage systems. Picture: Sandy Young Photography

Last year, Sunamp was one of several organisations across the UK to be recognised with a prestigious King’s Award for Enterprise. The firm was praised for its excellence in innovation.

At the end of 2021, it emerged that Sunamp would see its world-leading tech installed in buildings across New York State as part of a new project that took the Scots firm into the US.

In relation to the MacRobert Award, the three finalist teams are competing for a gold medal and a £50,000 prize, as well as a luxury weekend at Douneside House in the heart of the MacRobert estate in Aberdeenshire.

The finalists were chosen through a “rigorous and highly competitive” selection process, chaired by 2002 winner and fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Sir Richard Friend.

He said: “This year’s three finalists highlight the power of collaboration in creating engineering excellence. GraphCast’s success results from bringing together the expertise at DeepMind from other applications of AI to tackle the challenge of weather forecasting, which is of increasing importance as extreme weather events become more frequent. The University of Oxford consortium involved in the vaccine scale-up brought innovative solutions to a series of manufacturing process bottlenecks and delivered a huge advance in capability to scale up vaccine manufacturing, of critical importance for Covid and a critical resource to tackle future pandemics.

“Sunamp’s strong connections with Edinburgh University brought fundamental science to solve practical engineering challenges that had limited phase change heat storage, and helped develop its advanced heat batteries which are paving the way for sustainable thermal energy storage and helping combat climate change.

“These finalists are addressing some of the world’s most pressing challenges relating to weather prediction and climate change, healthcare, and sustainable energy. It’s an honour to be recognising the heroes behind truly revolutionary engineering innovations coming out of the UK. The global impact of these innovations underscores the far-reaching influence and importance of UK engineering talent, which is a driving force behind economic growth and a sustainable future.”

This year’s winner will join an esteemed group of past recipients who have delivered outstanding innovation, commercial success and tangible societal benefits. Since the presentation of the first award in 1969, which honoured Rolls-Royce for the Pegasus engine and Freeman, Fox and Partners for the Severn Bridge, the MacRobert Award has recognised transformative contributions, from the world’s first bionic hand, developed by Scottish firm Touch Bionics, to innovations from Jaguar Land Rover and Inmarsat that continue to have a global impact.

Founded by the MacRobert Trust, the award is presented and run by the Royal Academy of Engineering, with support from the Worshipful Company of Engineers. The award was inspired by and named in honour of Lady Rachel MacRobert (1884-1954), a geologist, suffragette and trailblazer who founded the MacRobert Trust.