15 May 2023

Paper No 684 – Economic and Environmental considerations for the deployment of VHTHPs in European markets – 14th IEA Heat Pump Conference, Chicago, USA

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This paper provides an overview of the most important economic and environmental considerations when deploying very
high temperature heat pumps (VHTHPs) in the European region. One of the state-of-the-art heat pumps, a process based
on the reversed Stirling cycle, can achieve temperatures of up to 200 °C, and temperature lifts over 150 °C. The coefficient
of performance (COP) suffers during such large temperature lifts, and thus the relationship between the price of electricity
and alternative fuels becomes a crucial factor when determining the feasibility of replacing existing boilers in industrial
settings. The environmental impact is quantified using life cycle assessment and mainly depends on the electricity source
used to run the heat pump as well as the construction and decommissioning of the heat pump itself.
It was found that factors such as low electricity prices and/or carbon pricing mechanisms are crucial in order to operate
low COP heat pumps profitably. Additionally, it was determined that VHTHPs can significantly reduce the environmental
impact of steam generation compared to equivalently sized fossil fuel boilers, provided that renewable sources of electricity
are used.