Norway: Heat pump market
Norway has an area of 385,000 km², a population of 4.9 million and 2.2 milllion households. A census of building stock shows that there are almost 4 million buildings in Norway. Well over one third of the building stock, 1 466 389 buildings, are residential buildings. The rest are broken down into 746 569 industrial buildings and 1 725452 holiday houses, residential garages etc. Agricultural and fishery buildings is the largest category by number of buildings in the industrial sector, with 509 557 buildings. About 10,000 new ones are built per year.Over the past 30 years, Norway has installed many large heat pumps for industrial applications, district heating and large commercial buildings having a heating and cooling demand. During the past ten years heat pumps have also established themselves in the domestic sector, with over half a million installations in total. Future years are expected to see growth in the commercial sector in parallel with a strong domestic market.
The most common type of heating in single-family houses in Norway is direct electric baseboard heaters in combination with a wood stove. Due to the fact that most houses have no hydronic distribution system for heating, air to-air heat pumps are the dominant type of heat pump installed in the domestic sector. Over the last couple air-to-air heat pumps have been installed each year. Air-to-water heat pumps are popular in new houses. Today, 34 % of single-family houses have a heat pump installed, with almost all of them having been installed in the last ten years.
Public opinion of heat pumps: HPs are treated equally with other renewable energy sources by government; most politicians point out bio energy and HPs as part of the solutions for the households; HPs are the first choice for households that want an alternative to electric heating.
The Norwegian heat pump market has been growing steadily since 2001. During the 1990s the annual sales figures were between 1000 and 2000 units/year. In 2008 the market reached 84,685 units which is an all time high. The most popular heat pump system in Norway is single unit air-to-air heat pumps. Subsidies for heat pumps and renewable energy: Grants are available for most types of heat pumps for various applications, except for air-to-air heat pumps. Private households can receive grants of up to EUR 1200 for air-to-water heat pumps and for ground-source heat pumps.
In Norway there are also many medium- and large-scale heat pump systems with seawater, groundwater, rock or sewage as a heat source. One of the largest ground-source heat pump systems in the world for heating and cooling was installed in 2007 at the new hospital “Nye Ahus”. The largest heat pump system in Norway is a 28 MW sewage heat pump supplying 90 ºC heat to a district heating grid.
“The future for the heat pump industry looks bright in Norway. Awareness of heat pump technology is increasing, and heat pumps are recognised as a good solution both for the environment and for the user. The industry has to adapt to the fact that new houses has lower heating demand and need more cost-effective heating solutions. It also needs to address the need for more education and training at all levels to support the growth of the heat pump market” is the conclusion from Bård Baardsen, Senior Advisor, Norwegian Heat Pump Association (NOVAP).
Sources and interesting links:
Development of heat pumps in Norway, B. Baardsen, Norwegian Heat Pump Association (NOVAP), 9th International IEA Heat Pump Conference, 20 – 22 May 2008, Zürich
The market for heat pumps in Norway, Bård Baardsen, NOVAP, Norway, IEA Heat Pump Centre Newsletter Volume 29 - No. 1/2011 p. 11/12
http://www.novap.no/
http://www.ssb.no/bygg_en/
http://www.ssb.no/english/subjects/10/09/bygningsmasse_en/
http://www.nbbl.no/English
http://www.energy.sintef.no/prosjekt/Annex32/
http://www.ife.no/Frontpage-en
http://www.enova.no
http://www.nve.no/en/
http://www.regjeringen.no/en/dep/oed.html?id=750
http://www.regjeringen.no/en/dep/md.html?id=668
HPs advertisements you will find in Norway e.g. from
Alpha Innotec, CTC, Daikin, Ekowel, Høiax, IVT, LG1, Mitsubishi Electric, NIBE, Panasonic, Thermia, Toshiba, Vaillant
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IZW country report Norway 
