Another record year for European heat pump market – sales soar 38%

The European heat pump market had another record year in 2022 with growth of almost 38%, compared to the previous record of 34% from the year before, according to data gathered by the European Heat Pump Association (EHPA).

Poland achieved the fastest expansion in Europe, 100%, followed by the Czech Republic’s 99%. The Netherlands came in third, with 80%.

The report brings data for Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

Finland had the most heat pumps sold per 1,000 households in 2022. Norway was second and Sweden was third on the list.

EHPA: The extraordinary growth is likely to continue

The European heat pump market broke a new record in 2022, according to early data from 16 markets, with around three million units sold, EHPA said and added that the extraordinary growth is likely to continue given the need to decarbonize the heating sector and reach REPowerEU targets.

The International Energy Agency recently expressed similar expectations.

The total number of connected heating heat pumps and hot water heat pumps in Europe is now around 20 million. They are providing heating to about 16% of Europe’s residential and commercial buildings.

EHPA estimates that the heat pumps sold in 2022 replaced about four billion cubic meters of natural gas, avoiding about eight million tons of CO2 emissions.

Europe’s entire heat pump stock now avoids 54 megatons of CO2 emissions – roughly equivalent to the annual emissions of Greece, the organization said.

Nowak: A lot yet needs to be done

Thomas Nowak, secretary general of EHPA, said that despite phenomenal results, still many in Europe do not yet have a heat pump, for reasons ranging from the sector operating at capacity to upfront costs to lack of clear information.

“We are working closely with a coalition of organizations and the European Commission to build an EU heat pump plan which addresses these crunch points,” Nowak added.

EHPA said that the 2022 sales were realized against a very challenging market environment with stakeholders throughout the value chain working at capacity and supply chains for heat exchangers, fans, compressors and semiconductors stretched to the limit. On the other hand, there is also the issue of a lack of skilled workers.