Despite savings potential

Demand for heat pumps has cooled considerably

Around 45,000 heat pumps are likely to be installed this year, fewer than in the peak year.

(Bild: Tomasz Zajda - stock.adobe.com)

After a brief boom, demand for heat pumps has recently cooled down. However, it is still higher than before, because thanks to subsidies and energy savings of at least a third, in-house production quickly pays for itself, calculates Alexander Springler from the manufacturer Daikin.

Some domestic heat pump companies have already responded to the slump in the market, which began last year, by cutting staff and reducing production. "Of course, we are feeling the effects of the decline in residential construction, as we had the greatest demand for heat pumps in new builds. In over 90 percent of single-family homes, a heating heat pump came into play," summarizes Alexander Springler, Co-Managing Director of Daikin.

The Japanese company is number three in Austria and employs 120 people in Austria. The appliances are produced in Europe. In the boom year of 2022, almost 50,000 systems were installed across Austria by all suppliers combined, but demand fell sharply to 43,000 in 2023. Springler expects a market volume of around 45,000 pumps this year.

"Not actually dramatic"
"So it's not actually dramatic, the trend is stagnating at a normal level. There were only 30,000 units in 2021. But the political announcements have raised demand expectations too high, manufacturers have built factories and hired people as a result - capacity is now just too high."

According to the Daikin manager, the installation pays off for homeowners without any problems. In a new building, the heating load is often 50 percent lower than in an old building, but even after renovating existing houses, "a third and sometimes even half of the heating costs can be saved. In detached houses, you can't really avoid the heat pump. It is the only heating system where you can even produce the energy yourself with a PV system. So you hardly need to feed any electricity into the house and, as well as saving money, you are also independent."

Alexander Springler: "Energy savings of one third to 50 percent are possible."

(Bild: martinsteiger.at)

Subsidies can be combined in some cases
It is important that the subsidies can be planned and are uncomplicated. According to the expert, there is still room for improvement. "There are subsidies from the federal government, federal states, municipalities and energy providers. Some of these can be combined, some can't, it's still too complicated."

The process now works well (registration, cost estimate, twelve months for installation after funding approval). The heat pump itself would cost around 30,000 to 40,000 euros for an old building with 200 square meters of living space.

For this investment, which you have to finance entirely yourself until you receive the subsidy, less financially well-off interested parties should probably receive subsidized loans, suggests Springler. This would greatly boost the generally high willingness to switch to eco-heating systems.