Hybrids and Gas Heat Pumps: New Growth Engines for European Heat Pump Markets?

EDINBURGH, December 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Heat pumps sales in Europe have flat-lined for the last few years. Two new types of products - hybrid heat pumps (a fossil fuel boiler integrated with an electric heat pump) and gas heat pumps - will open up the 'on-gas' market, enabling heat pumps to compete with conventional gas boilers - a potentially huge market with 8 million installations per year across Europe.

"Manufacturers are racing to bring out hybrid products - over 15 companies and brands either have a product on the market or are working hard on product development", said Lindsay Sugden, lead author of a new in-depth study into this topic under the Delta-ee Heat Pump Innovation Monitor Service, "but there are several different configurations and approaches to hybrids. Those that get it right have an excellent chance of tapping into the huge gas boiler market".

Leading figures from the utility and heat pump industries agree. At Delta-ee's recent invitation-only Heat Pump and Utilities Roundtable event held in partnership with the European Heat Pump Association, more than half of participants predicted that hybrid sales will exceed 100,000 units per year by 2020. Current sales, according to Delta-ee's study, number just over 10,000.

Expectations for future gas heat pump sales varied during discussion at the Delta-ee Roundtable event. "It's a technology that's already selling to households and commercial buildings in small numbers", according to Lukas Bergmann, analyst at Delta-ee. "There are already a number of manufacturers, and several other developers looking to join them." Most of the participants expect to see sales between 10,000 to 100,000 and above in 2020. Forthcoming Delta-ee research will explore the future potential for this technology in Europe.

Delta-ee also led discussions on 'smart' heat pumps and the energy supply industries engagement with heat pumps at the Roundtable event.

For more information contact Dr Lindsay Sugden, Head of Heat Pump Research at Delta-ee at lindsay.sugden@delta.ee.com.

Notes:

1. Delta-ee (http://www.delta-ee.com) is a specialist decentralised energy research and consulting company. The Delta-ee Heat Pump Innovation Monitor provides insight and analysis to leading European utilities and heat pump manufacturers on the hot spots shaping market development across Europe, and what this means for key stakeholders.
2. The European Heat Pump Association (EHPA) represents the majority of the European heat pump industry. Its members comprise of heat pump and component manufacturers, research institutes, universities, testing labs and energy agencies.
3. The 1^st Delta-ee Heat Pump and Utilities Roundtable, held in partnership with the European Heat Pump Association, was held on 28^th November in Dusseldorf. Participants included utilities EDF, GDF-Suez, E.ON, RWE, British Gas, Dansk Energi, EURELECTRIC; and heat pump manufacturers Vaillant, Danfoss, Daikin, Mitsubishi, Ariston Thermo, Nibe, Neura, Heliotherm and Fujitsu. The 2^nd Heat Pump and Utilities Roundtable will be held in 2013.
4. Hybrid heat pumps comprise a fossil fuel boiler together with an air source heat pump. Intelligent controls switch between boiler and heat pump operation to optimise performance and / or response to wider electricity system conditions. Price points and performance typically lie between a boiler and a pure heat pump.  
5. Gas heat pumps use thermal energy from gas combustion to drive a heat pump cycle, with air source gas heat pump using an outdoor unit to extract heat from the air in the same was as an electric heat pump.