The heat pump will be part of a plant that will warm around 30,000 homes in Finland’s capital city.
ADVERTISEMENTFinland is building the world’s largest heat pump to warm homes in Helsinki.
The air-to-water heat pump is being installed to help decarbonise the city’s district heating system. District heating involves generating heat in a centralised location and then distributing it, often through a network of underground pipes, to homes and businesses in the local area.
The heat pump can operate in temperatures as low as -20C and will be powered by electricity from renewable sources.
The plant, commissioned by Finnish energy company Helen Oy, is expected to start providing heat from the end of 2026.
“Helsinki has set the ambitious goal to become carbon neutral by 2030, and transitioning our heating system is crucial to achieving this,” says Juhani Aaltonen, vice president of green investments at Helen Oy.
“Once completed, the heat pump plant will significantly reduce the CO2 emissions caused by heating, bringing us closer to our net-zero target. In addition, the new plant is likely to create price stability for customers, as its production is easily adjustable.”
The energy firm has been granted a subsidy for the plant by the Finnish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.
How many homes can Finland’s giant heat pump warm?
The world’s largest air-to-water heat pump is being supplied by German manufacturer MAN Energy Solution.
The company says the new heating plant, which uses the giant heat pump and two 50MW electric boilers, will provide enough heat for around 30,000 homes in Helsinki, saving roughly 26,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year.
Refrigerants transfer heat from one place to another, helping heat pumps to operate efficiently. But many of the gases used are harmful to the environment with some now being phased out by the EU.
The manufacturer says it is using CO2 as the refrigerant in this heat pump, which is less damaging than the alternatives if it leaks.
“Urban district heating projects that utilise climate-neutral technologies are essential for advancing global efforts to reduce carbon emissions,” says Uwe Lauber, CEO of MAN Energy Solutions.
“We are excited to see our heat pump solution play a key role in driving the energy transition forward.”
Heating homes with renewable energy
Around half of all energy consumed in the EU is used for heating and cooling buildings, according to Eurostat data. More than 70 per cent of that energy still comes from fossil fuels, mostly natural gas.
An International Energy Agency report from 2023 found that Finland was leading the way on climate-friendly home heating with 41 per cent of buildings fitted with a heat pump. Roughly half of all energy used for heating and cooling in the country in 2021 came from renewable sources - but much of that was from biomass.
ADVERTISEMENTThere were concerns that Helsinki could replace the coal and gas that fuel its district heating system with biomass such as wood.
In 2021, a competition was launched with a €1 million prize for the best solution to decarbonise the Finnish capital’s heating system.
The competition ruled out biomass as a solution due to the pressure it would put on Finland’s forestry sector.
