The industrial sector is one of the largest users of energy and one of the biggest CO2 emitters. The largest share of energy used by the industry concerns the production of process heat. In this context, high-temperature heat pumps would reduce energy use and allow for electrification.

These technologies are a sustainable still unexploited way to lower the dependence of the EU industry on fossil fuel, to achieve greater performance levels and to turn waste heat into new energy, thus saving money while preventing energy loss.

The commercial availability of industrial heat pumps at medium-scale capacities (500 kW to 10 MW) is limited to supply temperatures of around 100°C, while prototypes have been demonstrated at temperatures of up to 160°C for selected applications. These prototypes have not yet proven to be capable of covering large market shares due to several reasons: technical challenges, too high investment cost and lack of distribution and service network. The technology readiness level of available cost-competitive technologies varies between 4 to 6, while some technologies were demonstrated at TRL 7, but are subject to too high investment cost.