The European Commission’s REPowerEU plan, published May 18, 2022, builds on the ambitious heat pump targets the Commission set in March 2022. The targets call for the installation of some 20 million heat pumps in the EU by 2026 and nearly 60 million by 2030. This is necessary to increase the EU’s energy security by reducing fossil fuel consumption from Russia.
Increasing the use of heat pumps is key to reducing the consumption of natural gas for heating and cooling homes, buildings and industry. In REPowerEU, the European Commission sets a goal of doubling the deployment rate, and refers to increasing the production of equipment and facilitating access to financing for heat pumps.
In the accompanying “EU Save Energy” communication, the Commission proposes a series of measures to accelerate and encourage the deployment of heat pumps, such as stricter energy efficiency requirements for buildings, changes in ecodesign requirements, which should lead to the discontinuation of “stand-alone” fossil fuel boilers (e.g. gas, coal and oil) by 2029 at the latest. High-efficiency hybrid solutions, i.e. heat pumps with gas boilers, will be allowed. The document also announces stricter energy efficiency requirements for new buildings.
The Commission has also included a number of important proposals in the REPowerEU plan that will help accelerate the introduction of heat pumps to the market.
These include, among others:
– Encourage member states to use price support measures to encourage a shift to heat pumps (including the use of reduced VAT).
– Encouraging MEPs to accelerate the end date for public subsidies for boilers using fossil fuels in buildings from 2027 to 2025.
– Creating a new window in the Innovation Fund – which is funded by the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) – to support the innovative production of clean technologies, including heat pumps
– Encourage member states to accelerate the large-scale deployment and integration of heat pumps in a cost-effective manner, such as through the use of industrial heat
As REPowerEU’s medium-term measures related to heat pumps, the EC proposes:
– Increasing the binding energy efficiency target to at least 13% by 2030 over 2020 levels, from the current 9%.
– Propose increasing the renewable energy target to 45% from the currently proposed 40%.
– Establish a large-scale “skills partnership” that should help train people to work in the heat pump industry.
According to Pawel Lachman, CEO of PORT PC: “The introduction of the proposal for an end date for the sale of fossil fuel boilers in 2029 is very crucial for the heating industry in Poland and is an important milestone that shows a clear and consistent direction of change in heating buildings. At the same time, the Commission’s proposal to ban the subsidization of fossil fuel boilers from 2025 will be important in terms of future changes to the Clean Air program.” In turn, according to the European representative of the industry, there is a need to prepare a European strategy for the development of heat pumps. According to Thomas Nowak, secretary general of the European Heat Pump Association (EHPA): “The European Commission has presented many good pieces of the puzzle today, but it has not created a coherent picture of the heating and cooling situation. Europe needs a heat pump strategy, and the heat pump industry needs an EU gas pedal to speed up implementation and help Europeans move away from fossil fuels faster.”
The issues of rapid transformation of the heating equipment market in Europe will also be the topics of the next 10th PORT PC Congress, which will be held on June 2, 2022 in Krakow (event website: https://portpc.pl/kongres). We cordially invite you to participate in this event.
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[Source: PORT PC].
ABOUT PORT PC
The Polish Organization for the Development of Heat Pumps (PORT PC) is a trade association that aims to strengthen the image of heat pump technology through the establishment of a quality management system, the development and implementation of technical standards, and the certification and conduct of professional technical advice in the European market. a level recognized on a European scale. PORT PC has been a member of the European Heat Pump Association (EHPA) based in Brussels since 2012. In addition, it cooperates with European industry organizations, including the German BWP and the German engineering association VDI. PORT PC is a founding member of the Industry Alliance for Energy Efficiency of Buildings (since 2018).
For more information about PORT PC, visit: www.portpc.pl
