The Netherlands is at the forefront of the move to decarbonise the European heating sector through electrification of heat, driven by a policy goal to phase out natural gas. In the Netherlands, this drive has been strengthened by a series of earthquakes in the north of the country that have been caused by natural gas extraction. This is quite a shift as, similarly to the UK, the Netherlands has previously been a country dominated by gas heating. 85-90% of homes currently use natural gas as their main heat source.  

Cate Lyon, manager of Delta-EE's Electrification of Heat research, says that building regulations have been the key to kick-starting the electrification of heat in new build housing.

In my last blog, I explained why I think now is the time for air/air heat pumps (A/A HP).  There are strong opportunities in the residential heating market in Europe. But in our conversations across the heating and energy industry, we still meet challenges from those not yet engaged in A/A HPs. Here are some of the major myths and challenges we hear - and why we still think A/A HPs should not be ignored.

Challenge #1: “A/AHPs are good for cooling but suboptimal as a primary heating solution”.

The transition from ‘old’ to ‘new’ heat is disrupting the market in several ways, creating new business models, customer propositions and new technology ecosystems, as well as opening up opportunities for new market players and sales channels. In part one of this two-part blog series, we discussed  how new technology ecosystems and connectivity are shaping the market. 

For this second and final part of the heat blog series we consider customer propositions and new market entrants and how they will impact the heating market. 

The transition from ‘old’ to ‘new’ heat is disrupting the market in several ways, creating new business models, customer propositions and technology ecosystems, as well as opening up opportunities for new market players and sales channels. This two-part blog series will consider how the heat market could evolve and what could be seen in the next few years.

This first part considers heating system functionality and connectivity, value stream diversification and hydrogen for heat. The second will look at customer propositions.

All personal opinions regarding Brexit aside, there’s no denying that the European Commission and European Union has a huge influence over the energy sector. Recent episode of Talking New Energy, the Delta-EE podcast, focuses on what the latest policy coming out of the EU means for the energy transition. 

As Frauke Thies, Executive Director at SmartEn, explains, organisations such as SmartEn help their members understand the legislation coming out of the European Union and how it affects them. It is not always easy to help countries understand the influence of the EU, but its influence is paramount. Take the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, for example, which has set the target for member states to achieve nearly zero energy buildings in new builds. In the future this will push towards achieving a renovation of building stock as well. 

The European Heat Pump Summit (powered by Chillventa) is always eagerly anticipated by the heat team at Delta-EE. This year was no exception, with a packed agenda discussing the current state of the art in the design of all types of heat pump, and applications spanning from domestic to industrial, from low temperature to high temperature, and using a wide range of refrigerants. Contributions came from further afield than just the EU with India, Japan and China being notable contributors. 

Given the wide range of topics up for discussion, what were the key takeaways? My top three are given below: