The UK government has recently announced a major energy policy reform: the Future Homes Standard, which will be implemented in the autumn of 2025, will require new residential buildings to be equipped with photovoltaic (PV) systems, heat pumps, and energy storage systems simultaneously, creating a closed loop of "power generation - energy storage - power consumption," directly stimulating the demand for household energy storage. This policy, described by Energy Minister Ed Miliband as a "commonsense change," is expected to save ordinary households over £530 (about 4,900 yuan) in energy costs each year, and some households, in combination with energy storage technology, can even cut their bills by 90%. The policy aims to significantly reduce household energy expenditure and enhance the country's energy security level.

According to the Future Homes Standard:
- Standardization of rooftop photovoltaic systems: New residential buildings are required to install PV systems, which will be included as a default configuration in construction standards, except for special cases of obstruction;

- For the first time, building regulations will explicitly stipulate the "functional requirements" of photovoltaic power generation: photovoltaic power generation will be formally written into building regulations and become one of the functional conditions that new houses must meet at the time of delivery;

- Flexible adjustment mechanism: For plots severely affected by obstructions (such as shadows from trees or high-rise buildings), adjustments to the installed PV capacity are allowed within a "reasonable scale," but complete exemptions are not permitted;

- Significant economic benefits: Based on the current energy price cap, a typical household can save about £530 in electricity bills each year;

- Synchronous promotion of low-carbon heating: Equipped with low-carbon heating systems such as heat pumps and heat networks, electric vehicle charging facilities, and building insulation systems, bundled upgrades with photovoltaic panels to form a closed loop of "power generation - energy storage - power consumption";

- Clear construction scale target: The "Plan for Change" proposes to build 1.5 million new houses by 2029, all of which will be implemented according to the new standards.

Most strikingly, the policy mandates that new residential buildings be equipped with heat pumps, electric vehicle charging facilities, and building insulation systems - together with photovoltaic panels to build a combined heat and power system of "power generation - energy storage - power consumption," which can save an average household £1,342 in electricity per year and more than £46,000 in 25 years. Relevant data shows that as of the end of 2024, the UK's total installed photovoltaic capacity was about 20GW, while the government hopes to reach 70GW by 2035. Under this policy, the UK's residential rooftop photovoltaic capacity is expected to grow from 4.2GW at the end of 2024 to 15.3GW by 2035, and at the same time, the demand for supporting energy storage will surge in sync with the demonstration effect of the policy.

With the rapid popularity of household photovoltaic and energy storage systems worldwide, safety issues of household energy storage equipment are also frequently making headlines. This year, household energy storage explosion and combustion incidents have occurred in many places, including the United States, Germany, and Guangdong, arousing high attention from the industry and users. Compared with the current mainstream lithium battery energy storage, flow batteries, with their unique advantages, are especially in line with the UK's new policy requirements for safety, life span, and sustainability:

- Inherently safe and worry-free at home: The aqueous characteristics of the electrolyte completely avoid the risk of lithium battery thermal runaway, and no additional fire and explosion prevention facilities are needed, perfectly meeting the inherent safety needs of densely populated residential areas.

- Long life, investment worry-free: A service life of more than 25 years (far exceeding the 8-12 years of lithium batteries) perfectly matches the life span of photovoltaic systems and buildings. The policy's predicted "cumulative savings of more than £46,000 in 25 years" requires a durable and reliable energy storage partner like flow batteries to support the entire process.

- Flexible expansion, worry-free for the future: Independent design of power and capacity, easy expansion simply by adding electrolyte. When the number of family electric vehicles increases or the electricity demand grows, there is no need to replace the entire set of equipment, with significant economic advantages.

- Low-carbon cycle, green and worry-free: The electrolyte can be recycled and reused, and the carbon footprint over the entire life cycle is significantly lower than that of lithium batteries, which is highly consistent with the UK's deep decarbonization goals and the green core of the policy.

The UK's Future Homes Standard, which mandates the deployment of photovoltaic + heat pump + charging facilities in new residential buildings, has given birth to an explosive demand for household energy storage. The flow battery PV energy storage and charging microgrid solution innovatively launched by ZH Energy, with its three core characteristics of inherent safety, long life, and flexible expansion, accurately matches the policy requirements and reshapes the family energy economic model. It provides safe and long-term energy storage support for family PV energy storage and charging microgrids, densely populated safety-sensitive places, and off-grid energy autonomy.

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