Three countries became heat pump forerunners in 2022, Germany did not

Invented in the last century, heat pumps – often referred to as “reverse fridges” – offer some of the best heat-for-energy ratios out there. Using electricity to concentrate ambient heat, even at negative outside temperatures, they can run four times more efficiently than a gas boiler. The EU’s 2022 REPowerEU plan aimed to “double the rate of deployment of heat pumps,” referring to 10 million hydronic heat pumps “in the next five years” and 30 million by 2030. Sales figures from 2022, a record-breaking year for the industry, indicate that we may be on the right track.

“2022 was a phenomenal year,” explains Thomas Nowak, secretary general of the industry body, the European Heat Pump Association (EHPA). Last year, heat pump sales grew by 38%, building on 2021’s already record-breaking growth of 34%. With its largely decarbonised electricity grid, France continues to be the EU’s volume leader, with about 4.25 million heat pumps installed. Finland, pulling ahead of Norway and Sweden, enjoyed the largest growth figures in relative numbers. For every 1000 households, 70 Finnish families purchased a heat pump in 2022.

Germany, once Europe’s largest importer of Russian gas, does not stand out in the 2022 market data. The heat pump market in the country, where 600,000 gas boilers were installed in the last year, is slow to grow. Last year, 236,000 heat pumps were sold, growing the market by 53%. But, compared to the country’s population, that growth is relatively paltry. For example, in Finland, where every 14th household purchased a heat pump last year, while in Germany it is just one in 170.

Source: ENN