What Fredrika and Kare Can Teach the U.S. About Heat Pumps
It’s no secret that heat pumps are gaining in popularity. They’re more energy-efficient, eco-friendly, and thrive on the very same conditions (moderating winters, intensifying summers) that are the signatures of climate change.
But where the U.S.’s adoption of heat pumps is still measured on a per-housing unit basis, Europe is going one step further. Make that one giant leap further.
Instead of building and installing the kinds of home units dotting the typical suburban American landscape, Europe is building massive heat pumps capable of heating and cooling entire city blocks and, in some cases, entire cities.
The world’s largest heat pump (at least for now), can be found in Hammarby Sjöstad, Sweden. Consisting of seven heat pumps operating in tandem, the plant boasts a thermal capacity of 225MW.
The size of a two-story home, the Hammarbyverket (Hammarby Works) plant pulls waste water into its industrial-sized compressors to eventually pump heat to thousands of buildings across the city.
Sweden’s Hammarby Sjösta which, for now, is home to the world’s largest heat pump – a 225MW behemoth capable of heating huge sections of the city.
Perhaps given the size of these units, the Swedes and Danes have taken to affectionately giving them their own names. Two of the 40MW units that make up the Hammarby Works plant, for example, are named Fredrika and Kare.
The Move to Massive Heat Pumps
While industrial-sized heat pumps enjoy the same efficiencies as their much smaller cousins, what sets them apart – other than sheer size and capacity – is their ability to put to work large-scale sources of water, including lakes, treated waste water, and commercial output (data centers, for example, produce prodigious quantities of heated water as part of their cooling process).
Europe’s push to adopt massive heat pumps took off in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Long dependent on cheap, plentiful Russian natural gas, most of the continent is understandably eager to build more reliable sources of heat.
At the same time, much of Europe is moving to decommission as many of its old coal-fired plants as possible as part of the continent’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint.
- Esbjerg, Denmark – Installing twin heat pumps (60MW capacity) that will pull water from the North Sea to heat roughly 25,000 homes. Largest of its kind to use supercritical carbon dioxide.
- Helsinki, Finland – Using water from the Baltic Sea to heat up to 40% of the capital city. The country is currently building what will be the world’s largest single heat pump, capable of warming 30,000 homes and operating at temperatures as low as -20C.
- Vienna, Austria – Plans to double the city’s current heat pump capacity (from 3 district-sized units to 6).
- Mannheim, Germany – The country’s largest river-based heat pump (Rhine) is heating thousands of homes as part of Germany’s commitment to achieve a climate-neutral heating sector by 2040.
Will the U.S. Follow Suit?
Given the enormous costs associated with retrofitting steam-powered utility plants (heat pumps can’t produce steam) and becaue the U.S. produces abundant supplies of its own natural gas, it’s highly unlikely we will see massive, European-style, heat pumps anytime soon.
That equation changes, however, for smaller, insulated communities such as colleges and universities, new multi-unit developments, or even tribal communities.
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Federal hurdles, including onerous fees and development delays, are seriously hampering tribal nations’ efforts to implement ambitious alternative energy projects that could generate reliable power, new jobs, clean energy, and massive new economic opportunities.
Although the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) committed hundreds of billions to support clean energy initiatives across the country, a perfect storm of interconnection requirements, a high volume of complex interconnection requests, and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) fees to remain in the development queue have all conspired to create a logjam in the system.
This has proved particularly challenging for many tribes, which are looking to alternative energy solutions,(e.g., solar, wind, and geothermal) as reliable sources of power rather than purely green power initiatives.
“Tribes are unfairly being lumped into the same pool as speculative developers,” says Brian McLaughlin, CEO of PlanitWorks. “At the end of the day, these communities simply want access to reliable power. Understandably, they’d like to take charge of their own energy destinies.”
Big Fees Are Impeding Progress
Per FERC’s Order 2023, within 14 to 30 days, all interconnection requests must be accompanied by a commercial readiness deposit of $5 million (reduced from an original $7.5 million). These fees are designed to limit speculative requests from developers that are actually unprepared to perform the work or that abruptly withdraw (the $5 million would cover withdrawal penalties).
But for most tribes, coming up with that kind of money on such short notice is all but impossible. And to reiterate, the tribes aren’t interested in speculating, they’re interested in generating reliable power.
In its August 2023 report to Congress, DOE’s Office of Indian Energy released the results of a tribal survey showing that 72% of tribes had no ownership or control of their electrical infrastructure. The survey also revealed that tribes suffered an average of 10.5 power outages per year compared to a national average of just 1.6 annual outages.
In other words, far from dabbling in speculative bidding for interconnection opportunities, the tribes simply want access to, and some modicum of control over, a reliable power source.
“If you have homes that don’t have electricity in them, do you believe that they’re really thinking about clean energy,” asks Onna Labeu, the Indigenous Power & Light Fund’s managing director and the former director of the Office of Indian Economic Development at the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Labeu added that while it’s understandable the federal government is focused on reducing emissions, it’s important to remember “there are communities that are way ahead of everybody else, but the tribal communities are significantly behind.”
Reliable Power is the Focus
Ironically, Order 2023 is designed to accelerate the approval process for interconnection requests. According to a report by the Berkeley Lab of the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, the number of requests in recent years has exploded, most in solar, wind, and storage.
Today more than 10,000 projects (a 40% year over year increase) representing roughly 1,350GW of power generation and another 680GW of storage await approval to connect to the grid. Because part of that effort to speed up things includes the hefty fees to ward off speculative types, tribes are asking for an exemption.
“We have petitioned FERC on behalf of the tribes we serve to waive [or defer] the commercial readiness deposit … and to allow tribes to remain in the interconnection queue,” said Chéri Smith, CEO of the Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy.
She noted that large alternative energy projects are “big economic engines” that not only could produce reliable sources of energy, but also generate new jobs and other economic opportunities.
Despite what may seem like a steady drumbeat of bad news regarding electric vehicle (EV) sales and leases, the industry is actually enjoying sufficient growth to suggest it soon may achieve a 10 percent share of the domestic auto industry.
Kelley Blue Book estimates EV sales in the third quarter hit 346,309 units, reflecting a year over year growth rate of 11%. EV sales also established new volume and market share records. Even Tesla, which struggled in the first half of the year, enjoyed strong growth in Q3.
Stephanie Valdez Streaty, director of Industry Insights at Cox Automotive, acknowledged much of that growth was likely due to an aggressive slate of government and industry incentives and discounts (at 12%, industry incentives for EVs were significantly higher than the 7% offered for other vehicle types).
Electric vehicle incentives compared to the rest of the automative industry. Source: Cox Automotive
But Valdez Streaty believes that “as more affordable EVs enter the market and infrastructure improves, we can expect even greater adoption in the coming years.”
What is perhaps most important is that EV’s domestic market share climbed to 8.9% compared to last year’s rate of 7.8%, leading industry observers to believe a 10% market share may not be far off.