This Tuesday, October 11, the professional heating and air conditioning association PAC&CLIM’Info, published the results of its survey, carried out in September 2023, on the French heat pump market.
On the residential market, figures from the PAC&CLIM’Info survey show that sales of air/air heat pumps are up 25% over the period January-August 2023 compared to 2022, with 717,000 outdoor units sold.
Growth which is partly explained by “a catch-up in 2022 which was down 8%” according to the association, which also notes that for several years, the weight of sales in the first quarter compared to annual sales has been “of increasingly important” whether “by the need to lower their energy bill or by fear of energy cuts”.
An apprehension for many French people who are moving “more frequently” towards more economical and ecological heating solutions, in particular “in the renovation of all-electric homes”, underline the members of the association during a press conference.
Emmanuel Macron had also declared that he wanted triple the production of heat pumps by 2027 to produce a million heat pumps, but according to professionals in the sector, “ this is not industrially realistic, at least not within this time frame ».
The economic situation weighs on the air/water CAP
The share of multisplit air/air heat pumps shows dynamism compared to monosplitsgaining 2 points compared to 2022. “We can note that from now on almost a third of equipment is of the multisplit type,” they comment.
Sales of indoor units are also strengthening (+24%), going beyond the million units sold at the end of August, with an emerging trend for wall-mounted indoor units (+28 %).
As for their environmental impacts, the industry announces that “almost all of this equipment (98%) has now migrated to the use of R-32 refrigerant”, currently considered the best suited to replace another more polluting fluid. .
For its part, the air/water PAC continues a decline that already began at the end of last year, after an “excellent year 2022”. At the end of August, the market stood at -4.7% compared to 2022 with nearly 210,300 units. According to PAC&CLIM’Info, the latter is subject to two contrary trends: the decline in bi-blocks (-14%) not sufficiently compensated by the increase in mono-blocks (+63%).
“The deteriorating economic situation, the collapse of the new home market, the vagueness in aid for energy renovation and the indecision regarding the cessation of gas boilers has created confusion in the heads of users, which has had an impact negative on the evolution of air/water heat pump sales”, react the members of the association.
The geothermal market grew by +15%, with an acceleration between the first and second quarter of 2023. In the same way as that of heat pumps dedicated to the production of domestic hot water (+ 1%), with nearly 115,400 units sold. “Despite the decline in new construction, this market is holding up better than that of air/water heat pumps,” they continue.
In the tertiary sector, the DRV air/air heat pump breaks a new record
In the tertiary market, medium and high power heat pumps, also called “liquid coolers”, are continuing their recovery standing at +4% at the end of August, compared to the same period of the previous year.
More precisely, air-cooled equipment increased by 9% while water-cooled equipment decreased by 34%. Trends opposite to those of last year, according to the association, for an identical resulting progression. Movements which “remain difficult to interpret”, however, declare the members of PAC&CLIM’Info.
For businesses and the small tertiary sector (system of more than 17.5 kW), the market stabilized at the end of August (+1%) amounting to 2,900 pieces. “Nevertheless, internet purchases, reductions in private investments and store closures are starting to weigh on the market,” they specify.
Finally, sales of air/air heat pumps with variable refrigerant flow (DRV) break a new record in January-August 2023 and increase by 7.7% compared to the same period of the year 2022. According to PAC&CLIM’Info, this growth is driven by “regulatory pressure (tertiary decree) which aims to save 40% of final energy of the tertiary park by 2030”.
Marie Gerald
Photo of Une: © AdobeStock
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