Heating and Cooling sector recognised as a priority for decarbonisation

Heating and Cooling sector recognised as a priority for decarbonisation

A study from the Joint Research Centre has recognised the H&C (heating and cooling) sector as a priority to achieve the decarbonisation and energy efficiency targets.

Solar Heat Europe is glad to hear the finding of the study titled ‘Decarbonising the EU heating sector: Integration of the power and heating sector’ published on the 21st of August 2019.

The study examines two main energy transitions of the heat sector.

In the case of electrification of heat:

  1. they predict a 25% reduction of emissions of the heat and power sector when replacing all current fossil-fuelled heat generation technologies by heat pumps in the future.
  2. So, based on the above scenario, heat pumps demand would be 26% of the total electricity demand adding 526 TWh to the final electricity consumption (2910 TWh).
  3. An increase in the winter peak demand is predicted to be 20% to 70% higher than today (current average of 41%)

Solar Heat Europe thinks that these findings are very interesting but:

  • As we stated before, in the #noWildElectrification campaign, fossils or nuclear-based plants shouldn’t provide the power to meet the increasing demand of electricity. A wise electrification should be promoted in order to use only renewable electricity, in smart and efficient heat technologies.
  • What about transportation? Electric-vehicle adoption in the EU is projected to be between 25 and 30% in 2030.
  • This leads to a huge increase of electricity demand. Are EU grids ready to transport all the renewable electricity that electrification of heat sector demands?

A variety of technologies such as biomass, geothermal, solar thermal or heat pumps and fuels will be needed to achieve a 100% renewables-based H&C sector.

The electrification of heat alone won’t reach decarbonisation by 2030

There is no doubt that electricity will also play an important role, but since this report is focusing mainly on electrification of the heat, we want to insist on the fact that not only with electrification Europe is going to reach decarbonisation target for 2050.

If you have any questions please contact us at info@solarheateurope.eu.

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