With Sustainable Heating and Cooling being a Swedish priority, Business Sweden in London has conducted an analysis of the UK heat pump market and highlighted the opportunities and challenges for Swedish companies in the market.
The UK heat pump market is still very much in its infancy, but with recently announced ambitions from the government and the policies to support those ambitions, the market is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years.
At the end of 2020, the government announced the target to increase heat pump installations from 37,000 to 600,000 annually by 2028. A range of financial incentives are in place to support this transition, with additional regulation proposed for introduction.
Air-source heat pumps are by far the most commonly installed type. Currently, heat pump sales occur predominantly for a domestic setting, i.e. homes, with sales for commercial and industrial settings comprising a tenth of the market value.
In the deployment of heat pumps in the UK, the gas grid constitutes a major challenge. The majority of buildings are connected to the gas grid, where the heating systems are often incompatible with low-temperature heating technology like heat pumps.
In the short term, however, there are about 5 million buildings for which heat pumps are deemed to be the most effective low-carbon option. Additionally, ambitious objectives for new property developments will result in more buildings which are prime candidates for heat pump deployment.
Swedish equipment and service providers have an opportunity to leverage their strengths to establish a firm position ahead of expected market growth in the UK.