Panasonic Heating & Cooling Solutions announced on 25 September 2024 its first integrated offering with tado°, a provider of home energy management products. The combination pairs Panasonic's Aquarea air-to-water heat pumps with tado° smart heating products for room control and energy management, in what the company describes as one fully integrated solution, available this November1.
The Aquarea units provide both heating and cooling and use the natural refrigerant R2901. In the joint offering, tado° manages its Heat Pump Optimizer X and the Balance energy management service alongside the Aquarea technology, controlled through a single application. Panasonic says the app lets users adjust heat pump settings for greater efficiency and automatically shifts electricity use to periods when renewable energy is available and at low cost1.
Balance determines when to heat the home automatically by:
| Function | Applies to |
|---|---|
| Identifying the least expensive times of the day for electricity charges | Households with dynamic tariffs in Germany and Austria |
| Reading the local weather forecast and running the heat pump on solar panel energy when it is free | Households with their own PV system |
| Using the weather forecast to find the warmest part of the day to heat a hot water tank, when the heat pump works more efficiently | Stated generally |
The app also gives access to Aquarea heat pump information and settings alongside saving information once set up1.
"Our partnership has significantly developed since March and has seen us making significant progress in our shared mission to help customers achieve unprecedented levels of energy efficiency and savings, whilst continuously optimising comfort for our customers."
The Aquarea and tado° room control bundles launch this autumn to selected European markets and will be available through Panasonic Heating & Cooling Solutions sales channels1. Panasonic has not reported which countries beyond those named in the tariff and solar functions, nor has it given UK pricing or a UK launch date.
Why it matters for households
A heat pump's running cost depends heavily on when it runs and at what flow temperature, so control of the unit is as much an energy independence question as the hardware itself. Panasonic's announcement describes shifting demand to cheaper or self-generated electricity, which is the mechanism by which a home with a heat pump and either a dynamic tariff or solar panels reduces what it buys from the grid. The flow temperature a heat pump runs at, and how that is set, remains central to efficiency regardless of the controls attached.
The features named apply to households with dynamic tariffs in Germany and Austria, and to households with their own PV system. No equivalent tariff function for Great Britain is stated in the announcement. The wider case for the technology is set out in heat pumps and household energy independence.
What happens next
Panasonic says more details will be unveiled at a press conference at Chillventa in Nuremberg on 8 October1. The integrated solution is stated as available this November, with the bundles launching this autumn to selected European markets1.