High-temperature heat pumps provide the necessary decarbonization

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Published: April 2024

Decarbonization with high-temperature heat pumps will help the industry achieve their climate goals. Despite barriers, the commercial development of new types of heat pumps is well underway. Late January in Copenhagen, this was strongly emphasized at the High-Temperature Heat Pump Symposium 2024.

The great interest in high-temperature heat pumps can be seen in the number of participants at the symposium in Copenhagen. The first symposium was held in 2017 with 65 participants. This year, the event was sold-out with more than 400 participants from all over the world.

- At the first event in 2017, the technology was still mostly theoretical calculations and good intentions. Today – seven years later – the situation is completely different. High-temperature heat pumps, which can potentially deliver temperatures between 100 °C and 200 °C to the industry, are being implemented in many European companies. Thus, the necessary electrification is finally also happening in the industry, says Claus Schøn Poulsen, Director, Danish Technological Institute.

In other words, high-temperature heat pumps are the new ‘hot stuff’ and are now also receiving political attention like never before.

One of the speakers at the HTHP Symposium 2024 was Niels Fuglsang, a Danish member of the European Parliament, who has been one of the driving forces behind the new EU Energy Efficiency Directive, which, among other things, sets a reduction target of 11.7 percent in the EU's total energy consumption by 2030 compared to the 2020 baseline.

- High-temperature heat pumps are one of the solutions that we need to implement to meet the current energy and climate goals of the European Union. We need to reduce CO₂ emissions by 55 percent by 2030. However, the sustainable transition is not just about producing and utilizing more green energy but also about energy efficiency and savings. High-temperature heat pumps can deliver on all the energy and climate parameters that the EU now wants to promote, said Niels Fuglsang.

More green electricity

In addition to the Energy Efficiency Directive, the EU also adopted a new Renewable Energy Directive in 2023 with a goal of at least 42.5 percent renewable energy by 2030. This goal fits perfectly with high-temperature heat pumps, which support the increased green electrification of the European energy system.

Today, electricity accounts for about 23 percent of total global energy consumption, but according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), it is expected to rise to 53 percent.

- The trend is clear. The share of renewable energy sources is increasing, including green electricity, which is to be used in heat pumps. At the same time, there is a large untapped potential of excess heat from the industry, which can be utilized in heat pumps and make them more efficient while reducing energy waste from the industry, said Jan Rosenow from the Regulatory Assistance Project at the HTHP Symposium.

Approximately 40 percent of the industry's need for process heat is below 200 °C, where high-temperature heat pumps are expected to be able to deliver cost-effective heat. But there are still big tasks ahead. The vast majority of process heat in the European industry – 77 percent – still comes from fossil fuels. The need and potential for green alternatives is therefore huge.

The importance of communication

According to Jan Rosenow’s presentation at the Symposium, high-temperature heat pumps are currently at the early adaptation stage. The first plants are in commercial operation in the industry, and more are just around the corner, for example, as a part of the SPIRIT Horizon Europe Project, where three European companies in the food and paper industries are now establishing high-temperature heat pumps in connection with their process heat.

It is expected that heat pumps will become commercially available as standard products for various temperature levels over the next few years: Up to 120 °C in 2024-2025, up to 160 °C in 2025-2026 – and even higher temperatures in 2026-2027.

The pace of the roll-out of high-temperature heat pumps depends on many factors - both the general framework conditions and energy prices, but also more local conditions such as an infrastructure with sufficient electricity supply.

- The further implementation of high-temperature heat pumps will depend on how the political framework conditions and the energy markets develop. The combination of low fossil fuel prices, high CAPEX, and demands in the industry for a short payback period are barriers that we must overcome in one way or another. Either through regulation, through taxes and charges, or through other incentives. But we probably shouldn't expect that there will be special political initiatives that will specifically promote heat pumps, and many people are still not aware of high-temperature heat pumps and of their potential. Therefore, the communication task should not be underestimated, said Jan Rosenow.

Natural gas is no longer an option

When you electrify your process heat, you also become a part of the electricity market with fluctuating prices and uncertain forecasts for the price range of alternatives, especially natural gas. However, the industry is increasingly bound by their own energy and climate targets. 

- There's no turning back. Once you've decided to decarbonize, it's no use to keep comparing with natural gas prices. Gas should no longer be an alternative once you've committed to a Net Zero strategy. You have to ask: what is the cost of NOT decarbonizing? We are now in a transition phase from fossil fuels to green energy, which will take some years. The risks associated with high-temperature solutions will decrease as we gain more experience with the technologies, and then the customers will come, and we will see more and more full-scale high-temperature projects, said Benjamin Zühlsdorf, Innovation Director at Danish Technological Institute.

He continued:

- You can easily find barriers for high-temperature heat pumps, but I think we should focus on the fact that the first projects are underway, and that with the targets for Net Zero and for increased energy efficiency and energy savings in Europe, high-temperature heat pumps will become an important part of the industrial decarbonization.

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