Energy Sales of air source heat pumps increased by 25 percent last year, with cooling becoming more common in apartment buildings

Air source heat pumps sales accelerated to more than 25 percent growth last year, as the hot summer increased the need for cooling in apartment buildings, says Suomen Lämpöpumppuyhdistys Sulpu ry.

According to statistics released by the association on Tuesday, 103,000 air source heat pumps were installed last year. In 2020, 82,000 installations were made.

“The number of installations last year broke the limit of 100,000 units. The increasing prevalence of cooling in apartment buildings increased the already hot air source heat pump market, ”the association estimates in a press release.

Sulpun’s CEO Jussi Hirvonen estimates that cooling air source heat pumps for apartment buildings account for 10-15% of the market. The majority of air source heat pumps are thus installed as heat savers for electric houses and holiday homes.

In all Last year, almost 130,000 heat pumps were installed in Finland, an increase of 26.5 per cent on the previous year. EUR 800 million was invested in heat pumps. The majority of the amount consisted of investments by detached house owners and apartment building shareholders.

A total of EUR 7 billion has been invested in the more than 1.2 million heat pumps in Finland.

Air source heat pumps in addition, sales of all types of heat pumps increased last year.

The highest growth rates were achieved for air-to-water heat pumps. Their sales increased to 12,500 units, or 57 percent year-on-year, partly driven by oil boiler replacement subsidies, Sulpu estimates.

Sales of ground source heat pumps also grew rapidly, by about ten percent, to almost 10,000 pumps. In addition to detached houses, they were increasingly installed in large projects, such as apartment buildings, service buildings, but also for the production of district and district heating and cooling.

The market for exhaust air heat pumps also grew clearly, by more than 20 percent. According to Sulpu, more than 500 apartment buildings started to save district heat with an exhaust air heat pump, and very many of these apartment buildings switched completely away from district heating as heat pump users. In small houses, exhaust air heat pumps are mainly installed in new houses.

Heat Pump Association predicts that heat pump investments in Finland will amount to approximately EUR 10 billion this decade, and that the number of heat pumps will rise to more than two million.

Their heat production in 2030 will be about 30 percent of the heating needs of Finnish buildings. The majority of heat pump investments are made for separate heating, Sulpu estimates.