Germany's largest heating installer terminates sale of gas boilers, focuses on heat pumps
Clean Energy Wire
Berlin-based heating system installer Thermondo has stopped selling gas heating systems, shifting its focus entirely to more climate-friendly technologies, such as heat pumps and PV modules, the company stated in a press release. Founded in 2013, Thermondo, which claims to be Germany’s largest heating installer, sold its last fossil heating system in February 2024. The move follows Germany's 2023 decision to gradually phase out fossil fuel-run heating systems by 2045. “After the impasse over the Building Energy Act, we have seen a sharp rise in interest in heat pumps among our customers,” Thermondo manager Felix Plog said. However, the company would continue to offer service and maintenance for the installed fossil fuel systems despite the reorganisation in sales.
According to the Federation of German Heating Industry (BDH), 2023 was a record year for heat pumps, with over 356,000 units sold. However, demand for heat pumps declined in the second half of 2023, following a noisy debate over banning sales of new fossil heating systems that had led to a spike in demand for modernising existing gas and oil-based systems. At the same time, the persisting slump in Germany’s construction sector kept the sales of heating system components in check. The government aims to bring heat pumps sales to 500,000 units in 2024. Nevertheless, the German Heat Pump Association (BWP) estimates that this goal would be missed by a wide margin.
Fossil fuel-powered heating systems are still the norm in the country’s homes. Contrary to the government’s goal of tackling heating sector emissions, the share of fossil gas and oil heating systems rose from 66 percent in 2022 to 70 percent in 2023, according to BDH. Sales of natural gas-based heating systems grew 32 percent to 790,600 units last year, thus accounting for 60 percent of all new purchases. Oil heating systems sales doubled to 112,500 units compared to the previous year.
