Market: European heat pump market

- The European Heat Pump Association (EHPA) has published an updated version of its outlook for the European heat pump market. The report shows that after 2 years of very difficult economic times, the market decline has stopped and heat pump sales in 2010 are expected to reach the same level as those in 2009. Factors that have negatively influenced heat pump sales over the last couple of years include: i) a slump in building construction resulting in greatly reduced sales of heat pumps in the new building sector; and ii) decreasing or phasing out of financial incentives in certain countries including France. EHPA statistics covering 9 countries (Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK) show that in 2009 the market fell by roughly 9.9% to 526 263 units compared with 2008. Statistics with a broader scope (covering 17 countries) show that 592 322 heat pump units were sold in 2009. The outlook for 2010 predicted that sales figures in 2010 are likely to be very similar to those in 2009. In some of the more mature markets, such as the Swedish market, the replacement of old heat pumps is an expanding market and is estimated by the Swedish Heat Pump Association (SVEP) as representing 8% of the market. Sales in Sweden dropped by 9% in 2009, but the heat pump industry strengthened its position on the heating market, with over 80% of sales in the new single-family housing sector. According to EHPA, a total of 2129 929 heat pump units were sold over the 2005-2009 period in the EU-9 area. These heat pumps are annually contributing a total of 25.96 TWh of renewable energy to the overall energy consumption in the heating sector and have saved a similar amount of final energy. www.ehpa.org

- The Geothermal Center (GZB) in Bochum, Germany, predicts that by 2017, 65000 ground-source heat pumps will be sold per year in Germany. By 2020, Germany is expected to have 1.8 million heat pumps in use and 185000 installed annually. Predicted trends include: greater use of gas heat pumps and CO2 heat pumps, use of heat sources such as waste water and use of upgraded heat pumps in industrial and commercial applications. The following factors are driving expansion: rising energy costs and governmental policies promoting demand for efficient, environmentally friendly technology.