Article by the European Heat Pump Association
A quiet revolution is heating up behind factory walls. From sugar processing to paper production and the prawn industry, high-temperature heat pumps are already proving that clean industrial heat is not only possible – it’s profitable, too.
Thanks to EU-funded projects like Push2Heat and SPIRIT, real-world deployment is now validating years of research and development. The aim? To make heat pumps the go-to technology for temperatures up to 200°C.
Funded under Horizon Europe, with combined budgets of over €20 million, both projects aim to demonstrate cutting-edge heat pump solutions across diverse industrial settings.
While Push2Heat is currently testing technologies at three demo sites – from vapour compression at the Felix Schoeller paper mill in Germany to a thermochemical heat transformer in Belgium’s chemical sector – SPIRIT focuses on enabling industrial heat pumps to meet temperature demands of up to 160°C by 2030. Demonstrations span the food and paper industries, including a high-profile site at the Tiense Suikerraffinaderij sugar factory in Belgium.
Complementing the project updates was a revealing survey conducted across 12 countries and a wide spectrum of stakeholders, from industrial end-users to policymakers. Analysed using a PESTEL framework – examining Political, Economic, Social, Technical, Environmental and Legal aspects – the survey unearthed a blend of existing barriers and high-impact opportunities.
Politically, fragmented national policies and the lack of visibility for heat upgrade technologies in national decarbonisation strategies remain obstacles. Economically, high initial investment costs, expensive electricity and complex financing mechanisms persist, especially for small and medium enterprises. Social barriers include limited awareness and reluctance to adopt new technologies. Technically, the shortage of skilled labour and integration challenges were consistently cited. Legal and environmental uncertainties, particularly around refrigerants and the status of waste heat, added to the complexity.
But the picture is far from bleak. The survey also revealed strong drivers for progress: growing policy support, increasing industrial awareness, improved technical maturity, and the emergence of new business models such as Heat-as-a-Service.
More importantly, the survey shows that there is a common view among industry representatives, manufacturers, academia and end users on the barriers and opportunities.
So, how are they tackling them?
From the European Heat Pump Association, Policy Director Jozefien Vanbecelaere presented the evolving regulatory and policy framework shaping Europe’s industrial energy transition. At the heart of this transformation lies the Clean Industrial Deal – a policy package aiming to decarbonise energy-intensive sectors, reduce energy costs, and bolster EU competitiveness through clean technologies. Crucially, it supports the electrification of industrial heat and the reuse of waste heat – areas where heat pumps can lead.
Vanbecelaere highlighted upcoming support mechanisms such as the Innovation Fund Auction for Industrial Process Heat and the Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework, both explicitly recognising the role of industrial heat pumps in achieving emissions reductions. Her message was clear: the EU is creating the right environment for industrial heat pumps to flourish – and now it’s time to scale up.
Vanbecelaere was echoed by Dr Cordin Arpagaus, Senior Research Engineer at the Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences (OST), who explored the technical and economic perspectives. He noted that many high-temperature heat pump technologies are now reaching commercial readiness, with some already operating at temperatures above 150°C. Still, compatibility with existing steam systems, refrigerant safety regulations and planning complexity remain practical hurdles.
What became clear throughout the webinar is that industrial heat pumps do not exist in a vacuum: challenges are systemic. As Milen Perez Camman from the Spanish CARTIF Technology Centre emphasised, technologies alone will not achieve decarbonisation – systems thinking will. Academic institutions are not only innovating but also helping reduce uncertainty through validation, training and bridging gaps between industry, policy and public understanding.
Industry voices like Tor Hodne from German manufacturer SPH Sustainable Process Heat and Bart Aerts of the sugar processing company Tiense Suikerraffinaderij brought the discussion firmly into the real world.
SPH’s heat pumps are now operating in multiple European sites, supplying steam and thermal heat across industries including food, pharma and chemicals. Yet, Hodne acknowledged that without more reference installations and easier access to capital, broader adoption will be slow.
For Aerts, the SPIRIT demo at Tiense illustrates both promise and pressure. A heat pump is now producing steam in parallel with traditional boilers. It is a landmark for sugar processing and a necessary step to meet the company’s climate commitments. But challenges remain: high upfront and electricity costs, and a lack of standardisation all complicate the path forward.
The webinar closed with a strong sense of shared purpose. Europe has the policy framework, the technical solutions, and a growing base of successful case studies. What it needs now is action, coordinated, well-funded and wide.
Industrial heat pumps are ready. The question is: are we ready to unleash their full potential?