SeaWarm’s Isabel DiPirro, Head of Operations & Sustainability, on market demand, commercialisation and national expansion
This month, we spoke to Isabel DiPirro, Head of Operations & Sustainability at Equity Gap portfolio company SeaWarm – a Scottish renewable energy spinout from the University of Edinburgh. SeaWarm is pioneering the development of innovative, modular water-source heat pumps designed to deliver efficient, low-cost heating and cooling. By harnessing its proprietary “HotTwist” heat exchanger technology, the company is able to extract thermal energy from natural water sources (including seawater, rivers, lochs, and even minewater) unlocking sustainable energy solutions across a wide range of environments.
With the potential to support the decarbonisation of electricity systems while also serving isolated, remote, and coastal communities, SeaWarm is positioning itself at the forefront of the transition to cleaner energy.
In this Q&A, Isabel reflects on SeaWarm’s journey; from early concept and development through to its current demonstration projects, and discusses how the company’s recent funding round, announced in September 2025, has helped to accelerate its growth and scale its impact.
Demonstration projects are already underway – what milestones or results are you most proud of so far?
We currently operate four demonstrator projects validating SeaWarm’s technology across diverse water environments, including mine water, rivers, estuaries, and coastal sites. Deployments in horticulture, heritage sites, and marinas are generating the operational data needed to support commercial scale-up.
Encouragingly, several partners are now moving from pilot to commercial engagement. For example, Growforth Ltd has taken ownership of its SeaWarm system, which now operates full-time in its glasshouse, while the Museum of Lead Mining has secured funding to expand its installation and double capacity. These milestones demonstrate growing partner confidence and real-world demand for the technology.
How have partnerships with organisations like housing trusts and commercial sites shaped your product roadmap?
Our demonstrator partnerships have been central to refining the SeaWarm product. Working with organisations such as LAR Housing Trust, Port Edgar Marina, the Museum of Lead Mining, and Growforth Ltd has allowed us to test prototypes in real-world conditions across sea, estuary, and river environments.
These projects have helped us explore different water delivery approaches and optimise how SeaWarm integrates with wider heating systems. This has allowed us to refine the SeaWarm pod to increase capacity and flexibility while developing optimisation controls that improve performance. The result is a more robust and adaptable system capable of operating across a wide range of water resources.
What signals are you seeing from the market that reinforce demand for your solution?
We’re seeing strong validation from both demonstration partners and the wider market. Two demonstrator sites have already committed to progressing to commercial installations following real-world trials.
We are also seeing early commercial traction, with three units already sold and four more expected to be confirmed shortly. In addition, we have received more than 20 project proposal requests in the past six months alone, representing roughly £500,000 in potential opportunities. These organisations specifically look to utilise nearby water resources for low-carbon heating.
Alongside rapid growth in the heat pump sector, with UK heat pump sales reaching around 125,000 units in 2025 and ground and water-source systems growing strongly, these signals reinforce strong demand for water-source heating solutions like SeaWarm.
How has SeaWarm’s latest funding accelerated your growth over the last 6 months? What will the impact over the next year look like?
Recent funding has enabled SeaWarm to transition from demonstration projects to delivering a commercial product ready for scalable deployment.
Over the past six months we have built the operational capability needed to complete our first commercial sales, while establishing dedicated sales functions and systems to support growth. This has allowed us to secure projects faster than expected and build a strong pipeline across Scotland.
While we now have a robust core product, we continue to invest in product development to meet the diverse needs of our customers. This includes developing enhanced control system features that can automatically adjust system temperatures in remote or operationally unstable environments.
Over the next year, our focus will be scaling deployments, refining our delivery model, and planning expansion into the wider UK market.
Have you had any opportunities for international expansion – and which markets look most promising?
Our immediate focus is scaling across the UK, where we are already speaking with potential customers beyond our current Scottish projects, in England. The UK represents a strong near-term market due to its extensive water infrastructure and increasing demand for low-carbon heating solutions.
Looking ahead, we see significant opportunity in Europe and North America, particularly in regions with strong clean energy targets and industries that rely on stable heating, such as horticulture and aquaculture and industrial facilities. Early engagement with economic development organisations in several U.S. states is helping us identify the most promising expansion markets. These early relationships are helping us identify the most promising markets and build the partnerships needed to support a successful international expansion over the next five years.
From an investor perspective, what makes SeaWarm uniquely positioned to capture value in the energy transition?
SeaWarm unlocks low-carbon heating from one of the most abundant yet underutilised resources: water. Our system can operate across a wide range of environments, including seas, rivers, lochs, wastewater, and mine water.
A key differentiator is our proprietary all-plastic heat exchanger, which is highly resilient in corrosive or debris-heavy water conditions. This allows systems to operate with minimal treatment while accessing water sources that many conventional systems cannot use.
Combined with water’s stable thermal properties and a modular, scalable design, SeaWarm offers an efficient and adaptable pathway to decarbonising heat across multiple industries and geographies.
How has the combination of academic research, industry experience, and installer expertise shaped execution?
SeaWarm was founded on academic research as a spinout from the University of Edinburgh by hydrogeologists who developed the underlying technology and brought deep expertise in water systems and thermodynamics.
This foundation has been strengthened by the industry leadership we have added since the spinout. Our expanding team brings decades of experience across the heat pump sector and in commercialisation, alongside strong industry networks that help SeaWarm connect with the manufacturers, developers, and partners needed to scale deployment.
Close collaboration with installers, consultants, and heat pump manufacturers ensures the technology is designed with real-world installation and maintenance in mind. Combined with broader commercialisation experience, this enables us to systematically target priority sectors and pursue growth in a repeatable, scalable way.
Finally, what excites you most about the next phase of SeaWarm’s journey?
What excites us most about the next phase of SeaWarm’s journey is the opportunity to deliver tangible benefits for people and businesses. We’re at a point where we can help organisations significantly reduce both their carbon emissions and their energy costs by using a resource that is often right on their doorstep.
There’s also a growing need for secure and future-proof heating and cooling solutions, particularly as energy prices and climate pressures continue to evolve. SeaWarm can play a real role in providing resilient, low-carbon systems that utilise nearby water sources.
Ultimately, what’s most exciting is seeing the technology move from demonstration into wider deployment, establishing SeaWarm in the marketplace while also helping expand the use of water-source heat pumps in the UK. If we can make that technology more accessible, we open up a huge opportunity for sustainable heating for communities located near water.
Read more about SeaWarm and their mission here.