Application of Industrial Heat Pumps

While the residential heat pump market has been already satisfied with standardised products and installations, most industrial heat pump applications need to be adapted to unique conditions and a a high level of expertise is often crucial. The main market barriers for the introduction of industrial heat pumps are expected to be lack of experience and thus lack of acceptance in market with operators, industrial partners and its supply and consulting chains.

It was therefore agreed to start a new Annex, entitled Application of Industrial Heat Pumps, as a joint venture of the IEA Implementing Agreements IETS and HPP (Heat Pump Programme). A strong motivation for launching this initiative is the enormous potential for energy conservation and reduction of CO2 emissions that industrial heat pumps offer, a potential that policy papers do not currently take into account.

Industrial heat pumps are defined here as heat pumps in the medium and high power ranges which can be used for heat recovery and heat upgrading in industrial processes, but also for heating, cooling and air-conditioning in industrial, commercial and multi-family residential buildings as well as district heating.

The Annex started on 01. April 2010 and expired on 30. April 2014 with 15 participating organisations from Austria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany (Operating Agent) Japan, The Netherlands, South Korea and Sweden.

Description of Annex

The objective of the Annex has been to reduce energy consumption and emissions of greenhouse gases through greater use of heat pumps in industry. This has involved the following activities:

• generating information for policy makers,
• developing information for key stakeholders in industry and its supply and consulting chain,
• gaining insight on businesses decision-taking processes.
• expanding knowledge and information about industrial heat pumps, creating a database and making existing information available,
• applying new technologies and identifying needs for technological development,
• creating a network of experts, and
• finding synergy with renewable energy production to increase flexibility of the grid.

The objective has been achieved through joint studies carried out by the participants from each country in the Annex team. The core effort will be to present information on heat pumping technologies for industry in a way that will foster clearer perception of opportunities for these technologies and ways of exploiting them judiciously to reduce primary energy consumption, CO2 emissions and energy costs.

Annex tasks:

1. Market overview and barriers for application
2. Modeling calculation and economic models
3. Technology
4. Application and monitoring
5. External communication

The Annex has its own website. The Heat Pump Centre website can be accessed here.

Deliveries

The Annex has delivered an extensive report in two parts. Due to limitations in the size of documents possible to publish on the IETS web, the reports had to be divided into 8 separate files, with contents described as below.

Part 1

• Executive Summary, Policy Paper, Basics of IHP
• Task 1: Heat Pump Energy situation, Energy use, Market overview, Barriers for application
• Task 2: Modeling calculation and economic models
• Task 3: R&D Projects, Part 1 (pages 229-328)
• Task 3: R&D Projects, Part 2 (pages 329-400)

Part 2

• Task 4: Case Studies – Austria and Canada
• Task 4: Case Studies – Denmark, France, Germany and Japan
• Task 4: Case Studies – Korea and the Netherlands; Appendix: Japan and the Netherlands; Task 5: Communication; Appendix: Policy paper

Contact details:

Annex Manager:
Hans-J rgen Laue, Informationszentrum W rmepumpen und K ltetechnik IZW e.V.

Annex Participants:

• Rainer Jakobs, Informationszentrum W rmepumpen und K ltetechnik IZW e.V.
• Laurent Levacher, EDF Group European Center and Laboratories for Energy Efficiency Research (ECLEER).
• Per- ke Franck, CIT Industriell Energi