“We have to accelerate the deployment of heat pumps, but we have to do it the right way” EuropeOn says

EuropeOn (The European Electrical Contractors Association)’s post on Heat Pump Action Plan underlines crucial points to safely achieve the rollout of these devices which are key to decarbonise heating and cooling.

👉 “Electrical installations in existing buildings are often older and not designed to sustain higher loads as required by heat pumps (or EV chargers for that matter). This Action Plan must consider electrical installations and ensure incentive structures supporting heat pump deployment address this shortcoming.”

👉 “This entails ensuring electrical installations are inspected on a periodical basis as well as when high-load devices are installed (such as heat pumps, EV charging or PV), and including necessary upgrades of electrical installations to heat pump incentives and subsidies.”

Readiness of the electrical installation is not only relevant for heat pumps, but also for solar PV, EV charging and even induction stoves. The EPBD currently only addresses precabling for EV charging in buildings with multiple parking spaces, but at least half of EU dwellings have obsolete (>30 years) electrical installations.