Spanish heat pump market situation

The ratio of heat pumps versus mere air conditioning units sold is bigger than 95% in the residential/domestic sector. In the commercial sector, this ratio is 90% approximately.
During 2014 there has been a change in the global context, which was expressed by a small improvement in many of the global economic parameters. This led to a small increase in heat pump sales in all sectors except in the residential one. Furthermore, the cost of electricity remained on the same level as 2013, while the cost of gas increased slightly.

The use of air/air reversible heat pumps for heating applications remains quite low. Most of the dwellings are equipped with gas boilers for heating and solar panels for DHW production. Small air/air heat pumps are mostly used just in summer time for refrigeration, only used occasionally for heating in winter, except in the south and part of the Mediterranean coast, where, due to the mild weather, without extreme temperatures both in summer and in winter, these heat pumps are used extensively as the primary source of heating and cooling, occasionally combined with electric heaters.

The situation is different in the commercial sector, in which the air conditioning installations are mostly based on heat pumps, so they are used during all the seasons of the year. The air conditioning in industrial applications is provided by cooling chillers most of the times, and the heating by large boilers. Nevertheless, the use of big heat pumps for industrial applications is being extended, although this expansion is very slow.

The ratio of heat pumps versus mere air conditioning units sold is bigger than 95% in the residential/domestic sector. In the commercial sector, this ratio is 90% approximately.

In the industrial sector, this percentage decreases depending on the capacity of the unit. It varies from 75% in chillers up to 100 kW, 50% in units between 100 and 500 kW, and less than 10% for equipment higher than 500 kW.
The use of ground source heat pump applications is promoted by authorities due to their high efficiency ratios. However, the cost of geothermic boreholes is so high that the return of investment period is too long for ordinary consumers to be cost competitive, despite the availability of those aids.

Airlan (Aermec), Ariston, Carrier, Ciat, Clivet, Daikin, Daitsu, Eurofred, Férroli, Frigicoll (Kaysun), Fujitsu, General, Gree, Haier, Hisense, Hitachi, Hitecsa, Hiyasu, Johnson Controls, Keyter Technologies, Lennox Refac, LG Electronics, Lumelco (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries), Midea, Mitsubishi Electric, Olimpia Splendid, Panasonic, Robert Bosch, Salvador Escoda, Samsung, Saunier Duval, Sedical, Swegon, Systemair, Top Clima, Toshiba, Trane Aire Acondicionado, Vaillant are the major brand names in Spain.




Source: EHPA