Record sales of heat pumps
Solar industry expects growth spurt for 2022
2/3/2022 12:04 p.m
The industry associations are certain: this year there will be a “surge in demand” for solar heating systems. Many house builders can hope for a subsidy when converting their heating system.
In view of rising energy and CO2 prices, the solar and heating industry expects a significant increase in demand for solar heat and heating heat pumps. Sales of heating heat pumps rose to a record 154,000 units in 2021, as the heat and building services manufacturer Stiebel Eltron explained, with reference to figures from the German Heat Pump Association (BWP).
According to the Federal Association of the German Heating Industry (BDH) and the Federal Association of the Solar Industry (BSW), the demand for solar heating systems in 2021 initially remained at the previous year’s level with a total of around 81,000 units. However, due to the current high energy and CO2 prices, there will be a “surge in demand” this year, the associations predicted. A total of 2.5 million solar heating systems are already in operation in Germany, and a new installation is subsidized with up to 45 percent of the acquisition and installation costs.
The installation of heat pumps is also supported by the state: 35 percent of the costs are covered if a gas heating system is replaced. If an oil heater is replaced, there are 45 percent. In the past five years, the demand for heat pumps has increased so steadily: according to the BWP, 134 percent more heating heat pumps were sold in 2021 than in 2016. Compared to the previous year, the BWP 2021 recorded an increase of 33 percent in air-water heat pumps that were ground-coupled systems it ten percent.
The associations emphasized that neither the promotion of heat pumps nor solar heating systems were affected by the short-term funding freeze by the KfW development bank in the area of energy-efficient construction. BDH and BSW called for “uninterrupted funding” for the renewal of heating systems. This is the only way to achieve the Federal Government’s ambitious climate targets.