As of: February 26, 2024, 1:40 p.m
By: Lars-Eric Nievelstein
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With extensive funding, the federal government wants to make heat pumps the most popular heating device.
Current figures show that this only works to a limited extent.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs does not want to believe the numbers.
Berlin – Gas and oil heating is booming again.
The Federal Association of the German Heating Industry (BDH) announced this in mid-February.
2023 turned out to be a record year for the industry, amid the turbulence surrounding the energy crisis and the Building Energy Act (GEG).
The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection has both eyes firmly on heat pumps.
Sales of gas heaters in 2023 (BDH) |
790,500 |
|---|---|
Sales of heat pumps in 2023 (BDH) |
356,000 |
Proportion of funding towards investment costs for heating replacement |
Up to 70 percent |
Sudden rush for oil and gas heating
In 2023, German consumers bought around 790,500 gas heaters and more than 112,000 oil heaters.
In total, more than 1.3 million heat generators were sold, with growth of 34 percent.
The numbers speak for themselves: German heating companies have had a record year.
The last time there was such a sale was in the 1990s.
Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) is traveling through several federal states from Wednesday to Friday.
© Monika Skolimowska/dpa/archive image
However, according to the BDH industry association, the result is characterized by “advancement and special effects”.
The association announced this in a corresponding message.
In the first half there was a real run on heat pumps, which was partly due to the war in Ukraine and consumer concerns about a possible gas shortage.
In the second half of the year, the GEG debate again led to higher demand for the modernization of oil and gas heating systems, and sales of heat pumps fell.
Calculated for the whole year, heat pumps sold around 356,000, less than half of the sales of gas heaters.
Federal Economics Minister Habeck (Greens) wants to achieve sales of 500,000 heat pumps per year.
Federal government – tunnel vision on heat pumps
Given the increasing popularity of oil and gas heating, it is questionable whether these plans will work in the long term.
However, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection doesn't want to hear about it.
According to the
Berliner Zeitung,
the federal government's focus is still firmly on the heat pump.
“The year 2023 was a record year for heat pumps,” the newspaper quoted an authority spokeswoman as saying.
Sales of heat pumps have never been so high - in 2021, sellers sold 154,000 of these devices, and a year later there were 236,000 units.
The spokeswoman added: “Heat pumps were again the fastest growing heating segment.”
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According to BDH statistics, this is not entirely true.
Sales of oil heating systems rose much more strongly;
from 56,500 devices sold (2022) to the already mentioned 112,000 (plus 99 percent).
The Federal Ministry explained the collapse in sales figures towards the end of 2023 with the fact that customers were waiting because of the discussion surrounding the GEG.
However, with the law coming into force and the new funding on January 1, 2024, there is now planning security.
Comprehensive funding of up to 70 percent of the investment costs is now possible for heat pumps.
“Demand is therefore expected to increase significantly,” explained the ministry.
Funding for heating replacement
Thermondo, Germany's largest heating manufacturer, seems to share the optimism regarding heat pumps - it recently announced that it would remove gas heaters from its range.
The industry is now hoping for a new boom.
However, this does not necessarily have to end in a fixation on the heat pump.
“Now is the right time to look at heating modernization and tackle the heating transition in your own four walls,” said BDH Managing Director Markus Staudt.
Federal funding for efficient buildings (BEG) has been in effect since January 1st and supports the replacement of old, fossil heating systems with heating systems “based on renewable energies”.
This also applies to heat pumps and, for example, low-emission biomass heating systems.
For all individual measures, consumers can apply for a supplementary loan of up to 120,000 euros per residential unit.
All funding comes from the KTF.
The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection provides further details.
“The start of the funding is an important signal: When investing in climate-friendly heating systems, we are helping the citizens of the country and supporting them with the state’s great financial strength,” said Federal Minister Habeck.
“This is crucial because we have to make progress on climate protection in the building sector in a way that is feasible for people.”