Space Heating » Ground source heat pump (GSHP)

Introduction

Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) is potential source of tapping freely available geothermal energy for the purpose of space heating, cooling and domestic hot water. According to a 2009 report by the U.S. Department of Energy of the 15,400 MWt of estimated global installed base of GSHPs, about 56 % of this ‘capacity’ is installed in the U.S., corresponding to about 65 % of the GSHP ‘unit’ installations. Europe follows, with about 39 % of the installed capacity, and Asia has about 5%. In Europe, Sweden is the dominant player in the GSHP market, with almost 2,500 MWt installed— more than double of any other European country. Out of which, approximately 80% of GSHP installations found application in residential sector while the other 20% by small commercial sector (Burgos, Goetzler, Lisle, & Zogg, 2009). Compared to typical efficiency Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHP), GSHP saves approximately 25% - 50% of heating and cooling energy with a payback of 5-25 years (Navigant Consulting Inc., 2009).

Solar Energy distribution

Adapted from RETScreen International , 2005

Market

Heat pumps have found developed markets in Canada, Japan and United States. Within Europe Sweden and Switzerland have embraced the heat pump technology and other European countries such as Germany, Austria have significant number of GSHP installations. Due to high COP during heating season and the technological sophistication required GSHP are more popular in developed countries with high cooling demand than the rest of the world. Though heat pump technology has evolved since its commercial deployment in the past decades, ground as a heat sink/heat source in connection to heat pumps is still to have found commercial success.

Market worldwide

The following table illustrates country wise installed capacity, energy production and the number of units installed in leading countries using GSHP systems (both residential and commercial sector, including space cooling, heating and also DHW in some cases).

Leading countries using GSHP

Country	Installed capacity MWt	Energy production GWh/yr	Number installed
Austria	275	370	23,000
Canada	435	300	36,000
Germany	560	840	40,000
Sweden	2,000	8,000	200,000
Switzerland	440	660	25,000
USA	6,300	6,300	600,000

Curtis et.al., 2005

Policy

A strategic policy package would be needed to tackle the barriers and foster market transformation. Some policy instruments, which have been implemented in different countries, will also be discussed here.

Incentives and financing

Of the various incentives on renewable technologies by the UK Government’s Renewable Heat Initia-tive programme Ground Source Heat Pumps of less than 100 kWth are awarded 4.7 p/kWh and systems above 100 kWth are awarded 3.4 p/kWh. The payments are made quarterly for a period of 20 years subject to the terms and conditions. More information could be found at www.gov.uk.

The US Government offers 30% tax credit with no upper limit on energy star qualified GSHP systems in both new construction and existing buildings till December 31, 2016. More information could be found at www.energystar.gov.

German government announced grants for installing GSHP systems in new houses both new and reno-vated. Depending on the year of construction the grans varies from 7.5 to 20 €/m² of inhabited area with a maximum cap. More information can be found at http://www.energieagentur.nrw.de/.

A tax based incentive of 40% of the cost of GSHP system is deductible from income tax with a maxi-mum cap of 8,000 €/adult is available in France. Similar incentive schemes are available from Irish government on the use of Renewable heating systems with emphasis on GSHP systems. More infor-mation can be found at http://www.seai.ie/.

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Space Heating » Ground source heat pump (GSHP)

Introduction

Market

Leading countries using GSHP

Policy

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Space Heating » Ground source heat pump (GSHP)

Introduction

Market

Leading countries using GSHP

Policy

Select an Option

Select available Technology

We recommend reading our essential documents on buildings: