IEA: Heat pump sales surge 40 per cent in Europe to three million units in 2022
International Energy Agency estimates that heat pump sales doubled worldwide for the second year running in the wake of fossil fuel energy security and cost concerns
Global sales of heat pumps grew by 11 per cent last year, as double-digit growth levels continued for the second year running amid heightened awareness of the costs and risks of relying on fossil fuel heating sources, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Should the current growth rate continue, it could see heat pumps almost double their share of heating provision in buildings across the globe by 2030, potentially putting the world on about the right trajectory necessary to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, it said.
“To align with all existing national energy and climate pledges worldwide, heat pumps will have to meet nearly 20 per cent of global heating needs in buildings by 2030,” the IEA said. “The world is almost on track to reach this milestone if new installations continue to grow at a similar rate globally as they did the last two years. However, sales need to expand by well over 15 per cent per year this decade if the world is to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.”
The findings come in the IEA’s latest annual heat pumps sector assessment published on Friday, which found increasing policy support and incentives for heat pumps that have emerged in the wake of high fossil gas prices and efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions were key drivers behind the growing sales figures.
Currently installations of heat pumps remain concentrated in new buildings and existing single-family homes, but moving forwards the IEA said multi-storey apartment buildings and commercial spaces would also need to be a priority area if solid growth in the sector is to continue.
It also said energy retrofits would need to be accelerated to ensure that new heat pumps installed in existing buildings are as efficient as possible, in order to lower upfront and operating costs for consumers as well as reduce strains on power systems.
Heat pumps enjoyed a particularly strong year in Europe in 2022, where annual sales grew by nearly 40 per cent to almost three million units, according to the analysis.
That included a near 50 per cent rise in sales of air-to-water heat pump models, which are compatible with typical radiators and underfloor heating systems, the IEA said.
Heat pump markets in Poland and Czechia doubled in size last year, while Italy, France and Germany accounted for almost half of all sales in Europe. In the Nordics, where heat pumps are a long-established heating solution, nearly five times as many units were sold per household than the rest of Europe, the analysis found.
The IEA cited Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – which helped drive up energy prices and increase awareness around the need for energy efficiency risks of reliance on fossil gas heating – as one of the key drivers of the surge in heat pump sales in Europe.
Last year the European Commission announced plans to double the deployment rate of heat pumps, which was also initially proposed in the IEA’s 10-Point Plan to reduce the European Union’s Reliance on Russian Natural Gas.
An accelerated rollout of heat pumps would also contribute significantly to the EU’s wider decarbonisation goals, the IEA said, where they can improve air quality by replacing coal and oil boilers.
But the IEA warned that while growing heat pump were promising, fossil fuel boilers remained prevalent in most European buildings and continue to hold a higher market share even despite declining sales.
In the USA, meanwhile, heat pump sales exceeded those of gas furnaces last year, although in China – the world’s largest heat pump market – sales remained stable amid a general slowdown of the economy, the IEA said.
Overall, the report estimates heat pumps now cover around 10 per cent of the world’s heating needs in buildings, a figure that corresponds to around 100 million households, or one in 10 of every household that requires “substantial” heating worldwide.
Elsewhere, the report also found that many more households use heat pumps for only part of the winter or as a supplementary source of heating in regions where they are mainly used for cooling buildings.
