The evolution of heat pumps: from efficient technology to a source of flexibility for households and businesses

A thriving sector, recording double-digit market growth, particularly in the residential segment, and one in which, for once, Europe and Italia are taking the lion’s share of the industrial supply chain, with over 60 per cent of components produced domestically. This is the picture painted by Maurizio Marchesini, President of Assoclima, who opened the Digital Round Table ‘The evolution of heat pumps: renewable energy”, which Radio 24 dedicated to the world of heat pumps – a technology that is increasingly establishing itself as a key solution far beyond the simple replacement of gas heating systems.

The debate has highlighted this point very clearly, one of which there is little awareness even within the sector itself: originally developed decades ago as a technology to improve energy efficiency, heat pumps are now increasingly emerging as a key player in the energy transition, thanks to the contribution they can make to the process of electrification and, perhaps even more surprisingly, to the challenge of flexibility.

The first point to highlight is that the technical limitations which, until a few years ago, plagued heat pumps – rendering them incapable of providing all the heat required when weather conditions became particularly harsh – have now been overcome. Today, as ARSE Chairman Riccardo Bani explained, these kinds of problems have been completely overcome, and alongside the technical capability to cope with harsh climates, the efficiency of these technologies has also improved.

A second finding to emerge from the round-table discussion – which represents a more recent development – is the possibility of using heat pumps in the civil and residential sectors (from homes to offices to commercial premises) as a means of managing flexibility in electricity demand. A study by the Politecnico di Milano and ENEA has shown that a well-insulated building fitted with a heat pump can be used in the same way as a thermal battery simply by overheating it (or over-cooling it in summer) by a degree or two during the middle of the day, when electricity is potentially available at a low cost or when it is self-generated via a photovoltaic system. According to Roberto Armani, an expert in building physics and consultant at the Politecnico di Milano, and co-author of the study, by applying this technique it is possible to shift up to 80 per cent of a home’s consumption peaks, concentrating them during the hours of maximum solar energy availability, without resorting to the far more expensive electrochemical batteries: this represents enormous potential for flexibility, which will gradually take shape as public and private buildings are refurbished in line with modern standards of comfort and energy efficiency.

It should be made clear that many of these solutions require an advanced use of heat pumps, which we, however, continue to use as if they were boilers. In short, we need to introduce intelligence into the system, and the world of appliance manufacturers is well aware of this. Massimiliano Pierini, Managing Director of RX Italia – a company that organises some of the most important trade fairs dedicated to the world of heat pumps – has indicated that this is a very prominent theme in the launch strategies that companies in the sector are developing ahead of upcoming events.