Revolutionizing Growth in the Heat Pump Market — Heat Pumps to be the Standard Solution for All Building Types
Over the last decade, the global heat pump market has grown steadily. However, according to the European Heat Pump Outlook, 2021: 2 million heat pumps per year are within reach, heat pump markets made a crucial recovery in 2021, growing at an unprecedented rate across Europe despite corona-related restrictions and global supply-chain complications. Aggregated industry expert opinion hints at a market increase of more than 25% and a total sales volume exceeding 2 million units by the end of the year.
As highlighted in many of the HPT TCP member country reports, the introduction of strengthened legislation governing new and existing buildings in many European countries has undoubtedly been the key driver for growth, ranging from general regulations in France such as the RE2020 regulation, which aims to restrict the use of fossil fuel and direct electric heaters and to support heat pump penetration deployment, to a ban on combustion boilers in the Netherlands. In addition, in recent years, we have seen several initiatives, particularly in Finland, Germany, the USA, Japan, etc., to promote heat pumps in the replacement market, accompanied by government incentives at both the national and local levels. Simultaneously, technology has developed to help make heat pumps an appealing option.
According to the Market Report, 2021 written by Jussi Hirvonen, Executive Director of the Finnish Heat Pump Association SULPU by statistics, the sales of all types of heat pumps increased last year. 130,000 heat pumps were installed last year, and investments in them amounted to EUR 800 million. The largest group of investors was the owners of single-family houses and residential buildings. In addition to single-family houses, GSHP’s were increasingly installed in large units such as apartment buildings and service buildings but also for the production of the district and block heating and cooling. The majority of air-to-air heat pumps are, however, installed to save energy in electrically heated houses and holiday homes. Mr. Jussi estimates that ASHPs used for cooling in apartment buildings account for 10 to 15% of the AAHP market. Read the full report here.
According to the Cooling Post, the latest figures from the German heat pump association Bundesverband Wärmepumpe (BWP) show a total of 127,000 air-to-water heat pumps sales, an increase of 33%, including around 83,500 monobloc devices (+48%) and 43,500 split units (+12%). Brine-water heat pumps increased by 12%, with 27,000 ground-source systems sold in 2021.
A piece of recent news by JARN showed that in the USA, according to the latest statistics from AHRI, the shipments of central air conditioners and air-source heat pumps totaled 666,067 units in November 2021 up 12.1% from 593,998 units shipped in November 2020. The shipments of air-source heat pumps increased 13.8% to 282,113 units, up from 247,975 units shipped in November 2020. The United States is one of the world’s largest heating markets. Currently, the U.S. heating market is benefitting from a tailwind for heat pumps due to environmental policies implemented by the Biden administration, subsidies from state governments and electric power companies, and soaring gas prices.
Furthermore, according to recent statistics released by JRAIA, demand for eco-friendly heat pumps in Japan is expected to increase by double digits in 2021, and the domestic market has grown for six consecutive years. The primary reason for the increase is an increase in stay-at-home demand. People working from home for extended periods of time have increased the demand for hot water, and electricity bills have risen as a result. Many people can divert funds that would otherwise be spent on leisure activities into investments in-home equipment companies and rising gas prices.