China Heat Pump Industry Status Analysis and Prospects

The “heat pump” device works through electricity and captures low-grade thermal energy from the natural world, transferring it to the high-grade thermal energy that people can produce and use. The heat pump consumes 1 part of electrical energy and can provide 3 to 6 (or even more) high-grade thermal energy. Its primary energy utilization rate exceeds 100%, which is more than 30% energy saving compared with traditional heating methods. It is a scale utilization of natural energy and renewable energy. Ecological Elves".

Heat pump technology has been marketed in China for nearly 10 years. At present, it only makes a market share of 1 billion yuan. What are the problems encountered in the promotion of high-tech energy-saving and environmental protection products that benefit the people?

status quo:

The industry is muddled and market access is confusing. The heat pump industry spent only 10 billion yuan in 10 years, and its market share still has a lot of room for improvement.

The heat pump industry is a new industry emerging in China around the year 2000. According to the analysis of the HVAC Consultation conducted by the HVAC industry, from 1999 to 2002, it was the demonstration period of the heat pump market; from 2003 to 2005, the market share of heat pump technology increased year by year, and many household appliance manufacturers timely followed up the heat pump manufacturers. With the increasing number of distributors, the entire industry has entered a rapid growth period. Since 2006, the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" has proposed a 20% energy-saving target, which has increased the attention of the whole society to energy-saving technologies and energy-saving products, and the public recognition of heat pump technology. A leap in knowledge and marketing.

According to Ms. Ni Wei, deputy general manager of Tsinghua Tongfang Artificial Environment Co., Ltd., a well-known company in the heat pump industry, the domestic market for heat pump products is in the ascendant, which is different from the situation that nobody cares about in previous years. In 1993, Tsinghua Tongfang just started to engage in the R&D and marketing of heat pump technology. There are few people who know it, and there is little market demand. The output of heat pump products is very low, and the corresponding production costs and prices are also very expensive. Nowadays, due to the relatively low technical threshold of heat pump production and manufacturing, more and more people are seeing the huge commercial potential of heat pump technology in energy saving and environmental protection. There are more and more manufacturers of heat pump products and the market competition is becoming more and more fierce.

China Investment Advisor "2008-2010 China Heat Pump Market Analysis and Investment Consultation Report" stated that in the first half of 2008, the domestic sales of water source heat pump market was about 1 billion yuan, an increase of approximately 30% over the same period of last year. Among them, 670 million yuan for small units and 330 million yuan for large units (mainly in the northern market). The development of the heat pump industry in the past 10 years has only made a market of 1 billion yuan, and its market share still has room for improvement.

In the past 10 years, one important reason for the development of a market of one billion yuan has been the confusion in access to the industry and the unevenness of businesses. Many home appliances companies in South China report that there are some "screw factories" in the industry - as long as there are screwdrivers that can be bought and assembled, the product life and performance cannot be guaranteed naturally. In addition, some heat pump projects cannot implement 100% recharging or recycling of groundwater or other natural resources that are used to extract energy, leaving consumers with no confidence in heat pump products. It is reported that there is no documented requirement for the heat pump industry. There is no market access system or production license management system that restricts the enterprises in operation, and the production threshold is low.

policy:

Supporting guidance is clear, subsidies need to be improved financial subsidies to help demonstrate the role of heat pump technology in the market promotion and guidance, but the heat pump market there is a certain degree of complexity.

Heat pump technology is a very bright "star" in the eyes of the government. It has been written many times into policies such as the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" and the "Energy Conservation Law." From the central government to local governments, various types and levels of financial subsidies have provided demonstration and guidance for product marketing.

However, after all, the heat pump industry is an emerging industry. Its production and marketing are different from traditional industries and there is a certain degree of complexity. Existing policies still have room for improvement in supporting their production and marketing.

Government subsidies reflect levels and orientation In recent years, China's financial subsidy for the heat pump industry has been significant. Since 2006, the Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Finance have subsidized three batches of demonstration projects for renewable energy building applications for three consecutive years. Last year, the “Third Batch of Renewable Energy Building Demonstration Projects” had 130 projects in 26 provinces (regions, municipalities). Among them, 90 projects involved ground source heat pumps, groundwater source heat pumps, and freshwater sources Heat pump, seawater source heat pump, sewage source heat pump technology project. The 12 projects listed in Liaoning Province all involve heat pump technology, and Shandong, Beijing and Hebei have also become provinces with more development and utilization of heat pump projects.

Cities such as Shenyang and Chongqing are developing heat pump projects with different financial subsidies. The Shenyang Municipal Government supports the relevant units that use ground source heat pumps, including preferential policies for water and electricity, financial subsidies, and simplification of the administrative approval procedures for heat pump projects. The "Interim Measures for the Administration of Special Grant Funds for Chongqing Renewable Energy Building Application Demonstration Project" recently introduced by Chongqing Municipality stipulates that for the air-conditioners utilizing renewable energy heat pump units, the unit's rated cooling capacity shall be subsidized by 800 yuan per kilowatt; use of renewable energy sources A high-temperature heat pump unit that provides hot water for domestic use, with a subsidy of 900 yuan per kilowatt for the rated heating capacity of the unit.

Deputy General Manager Ni thinks that China’s financial subsidies for the heat pump industry were mainly for R&D institutions in the earlier years, and that more than two years' supply of project parties (such as building developers) has now turned to end consumers. By subsidizing the sales price of production companies, users are encouraged to use energy-saving products. This change reflects the level and orientation of the national policy. In the heat pump industry, there are policy incentives from production to sales, which is very beneficial to the growth of the heat pump industry. The National Development and Reform Commission introduced the Huimin policy also explicitly proposed to provide subsidies for users who use household energy-saving air conditioners.

From the viewpoint of providing domestic hot water and heating, the traditional energy source that heat pump products most directly replace is coal. Recently, China's coal price increases and restrictions on the use of coal-fired boilers and other policies have helped the marketing of heat pump products. Taking a heat pump water heater as an example, it uses a small amount of electrical energy to drive a heat pump unit. The heat pump system absorbs low-grade thermal energy (such as air, water, and geothermal heat) from the natural world. With 1 kW of electricity, it can generate 4 kW of thermal energy, and it can also use the low price of electricity. , The operating cost is only 1/4 of the electric water heater, and the environmental protection effect of power saving is obvious. Heat pump technology can exert great potential in recovering low-temperature waste heat. For example, sewage, cooling water, and industrial water can all become energy sources for heat pump products. Its market prospect is very broad. Interviews with industry companies have repeatedly told reporters that the country is expected to introduce more energy price adjustment strategies, or use electricity pump subsidies for users of heat pump products to stimulate the marketing of heat pump products.

Inter-departmental administrative licensing procedures are complicated. Industry insiders briefed reporters that the design, installation, commissioning, and operation of heat pump systems all require scientific investigation and rigorous demonstration of the local natural conditions and the specific needs of users. This process is The support and assistance of the specific government agencies involved in the project implementation, such as cross-departmental administrative approvals and permits, provision of geological and hydrological data for the implementation of the project, etc., are not open.

As the heat pump is a new industry, there is no corresponding and more complete administrative service system, and the cross-sectoral administrative licensing procedures it involves are more complicated. Taking Beijing Municipality's Guiding Opinions on the Development of Heat Pump Systems issued in 2006 as an example, in the early stage of construction of heat pump systems, the project unit must obtain the opinion of the Municipal Bureau of Land and Resources on the geological conditions of the project construction site, the Municipal Water Affairs Bureau. The opinions of the water resources assessment, the municipal planning committee's preliminary examination opinions on wellbore layout, pipeline layout, and the municipal environmental protection bureau's opinion on the environmental impact, the municipal development and reform commission for the unified approval of the heat pump project.”

Such complex procedures not only reflect the responsible attitude of local governments in protecting the ecological environment and supervising project quality, but also reflect the difficulty and complexity of heat pump product marketing. With the gradual development of the heat pump market, various local government departments have actively adjusted the relevant policies and actively simplified the administrative examination and approval procedures in accordance with the market and heat pump industry development needs. Shenyang Municipality has clearly stipulated in local laws and regulations that “the municipal and district/county (city) level governments and development zone management committees should strengthen the use of ground source heat pump technology to provide heating and cooling business services, simplify procedures, and implement Special office, one-stop service".

prospect:

Breakthroughs in Technical Limits and Increased Energy Conservation Awareness Heat pump technology has matured in reliability, with major technological breakthroughs and limitations focused on applications. The public awareness of energy conservation needs to be improved.

The technical principle of the heat pump is the classical cycle in physics - the inverse Carnot cycle, its principle - "reverse extraction of energy" is not difficult to understand, but how to control this energy extraction process so that it can be used by humans, but It has been developed by generations of scientists after more than 100 years of research. Therefore, the control technology is the core technology of the heat pump. It must be stable and reliable, and it can be applied only when it adapts to complex natural conditions and user needs. The current heat pump technology is very mature in terms of reliability, and the major technological breakthroughs and limitations are focused on the application range, energy conditions, and the extension of function/performance.

The scope of application should be widened. Heat pump products can best achieve their energy conservation, environmental protection and economic benefits in places where both cooling and heating are required. Any single cooling or heating demand is not economical to provide, so it is not widely used in the south of the Yangtze River, especially in the Guangdong-Guangzhou area. As people's demands for comfort become higher and higher, the area of ​​application of heat pump products is gradually expanding, and the market in the south of the Yangtze River is also constantly opening up. At the same time, the former heat pump products are mostly civilian and commercial (buildings used), and have now gradually expanded to industrial applications. For example, Tongfang’s demonstration project in the coal mine operation area of ​​Hebei Kaiyuan Coal Mine uses the energy of the mine water in the mining process to send warm air to the wellhead and provide hot water for bathing.

Air source heat pumps cannot be used in places that are too cold. They could only be used at temperatures above -5°C. Now, with technical improvements, some air source heat pumps can already be used at ultra-low temperatures of -20°C.

For heat pump systems such as sewage source heat pump and seawater source heat pump, due to the complex composition of sewage and seawater, direct use may cause corrosion of the unit, which needs further study. This part of the technology research and development needs to cooperate with other relevant agencies to do special treatment of the unit and the water source. At present, the more mature method is to directly refer to the sewage that has been treated to the secondary discharge standard, and the energy is extracted by the heat pump unit.

The function/performance must also be extended to heat pump water heaters. For example, due to the limitation of technical conditions, the water temperature of the previous heat pump water heater can only reach about 45° C. This temperature can only be used for bathing, which is used to lower the heating temperature. Now, after technical improvements, some heat pump water heaters can reach a water temperature of 55°C-65°C, which can basically meet the heating demand.

In addition, the use of heat pump products and other facilities can also open up a world for heat pump marketing. According to the same party's engineering and technology department, due to the high temperature of the outlet water, the former heat pump products are limited to the existing buildings that use radiators to dissipate heat; nowadays, new types of buildings mostly use floor cooling devices. It is in line with the heat pump product. Because of the large area of ​​the floor cooling device, it does not require high-temperature hot water to meet the requirements of the user's comfort. The transformation and use of such supporting facilities also increase the market application opportunities for heat pump products.

What needs to be added is that from the experience of Tongrenrenhuan, even if there are no technical obstacles in the design, installation, debugging, etc. of heat pump products, problems will still arise during the formal operation and after-sales service phases of the products, and many related controls. And the operating system hasn't had "fools" to the extent that everyone can master, illegal operations and wrong operations occur from time to time. In addition, from the perspective of air-conditioning and refrigeration, due to increasing global warming pressures, traditional fluorocarbon refrigerants are gradually being discarded. What refrigerants are used instead of fluorocarbon refrigerants is still a global technical problem.

Good products must be widely recognized At present, the general public still knows little about heat pump technology and related products. Heat pump products want to be widely promoted and applied in the market, requiring the general public's extensive awareness and support.

Energy conservation and environmental protection are never empty words. After people understand it, they will become a kind of consciousness that affects ordinary people's way of life and their way of thinking. Using heat pump thinking (extracting and recycling energy), our production and life imply many available energy, such as heat recovery from the room exhaust, drying, industrial wastewater, waste heat, waste, and so on.

The sales department of Tongfangrenhuan believes that there are already many people doing routine energy extraction and utilization, but the complex energy extraction work requires a professional technical team to actively discover, use, and complete it. The marketing of energy-saving products such as heat pumps that are very specialized is definitely not just about selling things. It is not so much a product as it promotes, it is better to say that it promotes a sense of energy conservation and explores ways to save energy together with users. Therefore, its marketing is much more detailed than any other product in terms of resource input, service cycle, and professional requirements.