The European Commission presented its Green Deal Industrial Plan on 1 February 2023, according to an account of a joint workshop held later that month by the International Energy Agency and the Commission1. At that workshop, on 22 February 2023, a Commission representative said the Commission is planning a heat pump action plan to boost the deployment of heat pumps, to be drawn up with member states and business actors and linked to the green financing plan1.
The plan will include a proposed Net-Zero Industry Act, which the Commission describes as identifying goals for net-zero industrial capacity and providing a regulatory framework suited for its quick deployment, ensuring simplified and fast-track permitting, promoting European strategic projects, and developing standards to support the scale-up of technologies across the Single Market1. The clean energy technologies named within the act are wind power, solar PV, heat pumps, batteries and electrolysers1.
"She revealed that the Commission is planning to come forward with a heat pump action plan, to boost the deployment of heat pumps."
The workshop reviewed progress since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. IEA figures cited at the event put the fall in Russia's oil and gas revenue at 38 per cent, the fall in the share of Russian gas in EU gas demand at 40 per cent, the rise in energy from solar and wind at 41 per cent, and the increase in EU heat pump sales at almost 40 per cent, with emissions down 2,5 per cent during 20221. IEA executive director Fatih Birol warned against overconfidence for the following winter, noting that 30 billion cubic metres (bcm) of Russian gas still reaches the EU and could be lost at any time1.
On buildings, the Commission representative said the Energy Efficiency Directive puts a 3 per cent per year renovation obligation on the public sector, and that the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive will focus on Minimum Efficiency Performance Standards and the worst performing buildings1. Guidance is being prepared within some REPowerEU chapters on how to make buildings heat pump ready1. The workshop followed earlier sessions under a project funded by the Commission's Technical Support Instrument and implemented by the IEA with DG REFORM, one of which covered rooftop solar and heat pumps together1.
| Measure or figure | Value reported |
|---|---|
| Russia oil and gas revenue | down 38% |
| Russian gas share of EU gas demand | down 40% |
| Solar and wind energy | up 41% |
| EU heat pump sales | up almost 40% |
| Emissions during 2022 | down 2,5% |
| Russian gas still reaching EU | 30 bcm |
Why it matters for households
Heat pumps sit inside two parts of this plan at once: as one of the technologies named for the Net-Zero Industry Act, and as the subject of a dedicated action plan intended to speed up deployment1. For a household, the relevant machinery is the heat pumps hub and the wider regulation-policy picture, because the rules that decide permitting, standards and finance are made at this level and then applied nationally. The Commission's stated aim of simplified and fast-track permitting and common standards across the Single Market bears on how quickly equipment and installers reach the market, and on what a heat pump installation involves in practice. The buildings measures described, including minimum efficiency standards for the worst performing buildings and guidance on making buildings heat pump ready, point to the fabric of the home as well as the heating appliance1. The figures cited on gas dependence and renewables give the context: a stated reduction in reliance on Russian gas, and a stated rise in solar and wind generation and in heat pump sales1. How any of this translates into UK rules, support or prices has not been reported in these sources.
What happens next
The heat pump action plan is to be elaborated by the Commission together with member states and business actors, and will form part of the Green Deal Industrial Plan presented on 1 February 20231. The Net-Zero Industry Act is to be proposed within that plan1. No dates for publication of the heat pump action plan or the act are given in the source1.
Sources1 cited
- European Heat Pump Action Plan - HPT - Heat Pumping Technologies, heatpumpingtechnologies.org