Member Country Report 2023
Christian Köfinger, Thomas Fleckl, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbHThe HPT TCP is part of a network of autonomous collaborative partnerships focused on a wide range of energy technologies known as Technology Collaboration
Programmes or TCPs. The TCPs are organised under the auspices of the International Energy Agency (IEA), but the TCPs are functionally and legally autonomous.
Views, findings and publications of the HPT TCP do not necessarily represent the views or policies of the IEA Secretariat or its individual member countries.

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Overview• Policy• Market statistics• Research overview

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Climate and Energy Strategy••

Austrian Climate and Energy Strategy “Mission 2030”:– The strategy formulates a goal of 100% renewables in the power sector by 2030. This
ambitious goal requires additional production capacities of renewable power of 2025 TWh, mainly achieved by wind, photovoltaic and hydro power.
– Also heat pumps will play an important role (e.g. in balancing the grid). For the total
end energy consumption Austria is aiming at 46-50% of renewables by 2030. A 36%
reduction of greenhouse gas emission (compared to 2005) is targeted by 2030.
International R&D Initiative “Mission Innovation”:– Austria and Australia have launched the Mission Innovation mission “Net-zeroindustries” at the Global Clean Energy Action Forum in Pittsburgh, USA, in
September 2022

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Climate and Energy Strategy•

Austrian “Renewable Heat Law- Erneuerbare-Wärme-Gesetz (EWG)”– Aim: ban of fossils for heating and domestic hot water in buildings••–––––––

Phase-out of oil, liquefied natural gas and coal by 2035
Phase-out gas by 2040

Proposed version did not receive the required 2/3 majority➔revision necessary
Funding schemes for exchange of existing systems between 75 and 100%
Erneuerbaren-Wärme-Paket: Förderung für Heizungstausch wird massiv erhöht – BMK INFOTHEK
Decarbonisation of space heating by the year 2040.
In new buildings, central oil and coal heating systems have already been banned since 2020. From 2023, nocentral or decentralised heating systems that can be operated with fossil fuels may be installed in newbuildings in Austria.
There are exceptions for buildings that have already been approved/planned/constructed.
From 2023, broken oil and coal heating systems may only be replaced by climate-friendly heating systems.

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Climate and Energy Strategy•

Austrian “Renewable Heat Package- Erneuerbare-Wärme-Paket (EWP)”– Funding schemes for exchange of existing systems between 75 and 100%
depending on income
TechnologyFunding

District heating connection

15.000 €Pellet or wood chip boiler

18.000 €Log boiler

16.000 €Air/water heat pump

16.000 €Brine/water or water/water heat pump

23.000 €– Plus regional funding
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Climate and Energy Strategy• Funding schemes– Several schemes on different level available (national, counties, cities,utilities) for companies and private households– Get out of oil and gas -„Raus aus Öl und Gas“• For single and multifamily houses• Shift to district heating (efficient and climate friendly), biomass and heat pumps• Heat pump funding criteria:– EHPA quality label– Refrigerant with GWP< 1500
– Supply temperatures <40°C → should be replaced by at least 55°C
– No district heating availablewww.heatpumpingtechnologies.org

Policy and Quality Support•

National Heat Pump Assocation– “Wärmepumpe Austria” (WPA) is an industry association based in Linz that covers the entire value chain. At
present, over 90% of all heat pump manufacturers in Austria, all electricity supply companies via the Austrianenergy association “Österreichs Energie” and suppliers and drilling companies are organised by the WPA.

•Training for Installers:– The Austrian installers are educated in three steps called “Lehrling”, “Geselle” and Meister”. During theireducation they have to participate in trainings including exams to reach the next step. Within this, theinstallers get the basic knowledge of all heating technologies. If they want to specialize in the field of heatpumps manufacturer offer trainings on their products connected to some marketing activities.

•Quality Label and Keymark– On the Austrian market the EHPA-Quality label is used in almost every funding scheme. It covers beside someminimum requirements on the product efficiency also some customer aspects, for example to guaranty thesupport or the availability of spare parts and so on. The label is also strongly used in Germany, Switzerland,
the Czech Republic and some other countries.
– EHPA Heat Pump Keymark is recognized in Austria and can be used as the basis to apply for the EHPA-Quality
label, therefor it replaces the test report. In addition, some Austrian companies use the EHPA Heat Pump
Keymark to obtain subsidies in export countries when no more than the Keymark is required.

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Market Statistics••

Data from 47 Austrian heat pump producers and heatpump distributors
Heat sources for domestic applications:– Air: 88,6%– Brine: 9,9%
– Water/direct expansion: 1,5%Market development of heat pumps in Austria until 2021 (Biermayr et.at., 2023)

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R&D in Austria•

The main research topics are the development of heat pumps for use in buildings, in district heating and coolingsystems and in industrial processes, the coupling of heat pumps to smart grids and the use of low-GWP refrigerants.

•The topics were summarized in the national technology and implementation roadmap. National research
programmes such as "Energieforschung" and the "Basisprogramm" of the Austrian Research Promotion Agency offer
appropriate funding depending on the Technology Readiness Level (TRL).

•Heat pump research is carried out at universities (Graz University of Technology, Vienna University of Technology,
Innsbruck University, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences Vienna), Universities of applied sciences(Pinkafeld University of Applied Sciences) and applied research institutes (AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH)addressing both national and in the European calls (H2020).

•AIT operates the only accredited laboratory for heat pumps in Austria covering the main technologies used inEurope. The laboratory provides the ability test and investigate air/water-, brine/water-, water/water- and DX (directexpansion)/water-heat pumps.

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AHEAD: Advanced heat pump demonstrator•

steam production at 11 bar (184 °C) basedon heat pumps•

integrated at a production site of Takeda inVienna•

scientific monitoring and optimisation for
more than 4000 h planned•

reduction of CO2 emissions by 90%•

CO2 free production for >7 months a year

This project is supported with the funds from the Climate and Energy Fundand implemented in the framework of the RTI-initiative “Flagship region Energy”

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AHEAD: Advanced heat pump demonstrator•

steam generating heat pump by SPH using butane as refrigerant•

combined with MVR to reach 11 bar (184 °C) with 1.7 MW heating capacity•

heat and cold supply based on natural refrigerants onlyThis project is supported with the funds from the Climate and Energy Fundand implemented in the framework of the RTI-initiative “Flagship region Energy”

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„Gasthermenersatz“ - Gasboiler replacement•

Modular heat pump for individual
residential units in large multi-familyhouses•

Heat pump operation independent ofrenovation degree of the individual
apartments and of the temperaturelevel of the energy source•

Optimized operation at heating flow
temperatures of 35, 50 and 65 °C•

Environmentally friendly refrigerant•

Minimum noise emissions- Development Prototype 1.02024- Numerical investigationof system components 2023
- Labory testing of Prototype 1.0

2021
2022

- Development and testing of
optimised prototype versions

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Project Begin„Gasthermenersatz“ - Gasboiler replacement••••

Appartments can berenovated individually
No central heat pumpnecessaryIntelligent energy
management
Multiple source system
possiblewww.heatpumpingtechnologies.org

Monitoring energy R&D•

Austria has established a monitoring system toyearly record all energy related research,development and first-of-its-kind demonstration
projects and financed by means of public funds.

•In 2022, Austria’s public expenditures for energyrelated research and development amounted to224,4 Million Euros.

••

Decrease of 9,6 millions or 4,3% compared to 2021
Public funded R&D research on heat pumping
technologies and cooling devices amounts to appr.
3,7 Mio € in 2022.
Public energy R&D expenditures inAustria 2018–2022 – Topics according toIEA Code (Indinger et. al, 2023)

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Summary••

Heat pumps are a relevant part of the Austrian Climate and Energy Strategies
Austrian “Renewable Heat Law- Erneuerbare-Wärme-Gesetz (EWG)” is not
implemented and will be replaced by the “Renewable Heat Package- ErneuerbareWärme-Paket (EWP)”• Austria has established different quality measures (also in the European context)• Good framework for research to establish new fields of applications, stable budgetsand highlighting industrial demonstrators for high temperature heat pumps• Growing markets over the last years, outlook?
• Challenges are how to fulfill the steep implementation curves for decarbonization(not only a heat pump topic)
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References• Andreas Indinger et al., 2023, Berichte aus Energie- undUmweltforschung 40/2023, „Energieforschungserhebung 2022“• Peter Biermayr et al, 2023, Berichte aus Energie- undUmweltforschung 36a/2023 “Innovative Energietechnologien inÖsterreich Marktentwicklung 2022“

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