Up to 50,000 CO₂ heat pumps in China – Shandong Melinda interview 

 

Li Gang: Compared to the CO₂ heat pumps produced by Japanese companies like Sanyo, which focuses on domestic water and space heating, we produce high-powered CO₂ heat pumps for commercial use. We mainly produce 2 types of 18kW commercial CO₂ heat pump: the MHH-70a CO₂ Heat Pump Water Heater and the MHH-70b for space heating.  

 

In the north of China, in winter the outside temperature is usually very low, conditions that pose a challenge to the consistant and stable operation of heat pump is, which is why most heat pump manufacturers choose not to enter the market in Northern China. Based on the technological improvements, our products can operate smoothly even the outside temperature is as low as -30°C. Our CO₂ heat pumps has operated smoothly in the Bumade Station on the Qinghai-Tibet railway line at 4,800m above sea level, achieving operational cost savings, and also in many other commercial cases. As a result, we are getting more and more orders from hotels, restaurants, and public sauna lounges from the northern provinces. 

 

 

Li Gang: In China, there is a group of companies conducting research and producing CO₂ heat pumps. Most of them focus on domestic CO₂ heat pump water heaters, like Midea and Highly. Both of them have announced the successful production of their own CO₂ compressors. For commercial CO₂ heat pumps, besides Melinda, as far as I know there is one other company (Dong Qi) in Kunming, Yunnan Province, working on this technology.

 

 

Li Gang: CO₂ heat pumps are a very hot research area among many Chinese universities and research institutes, especially in Xi'an Jiaotong University, Shanghai’s Jiao Tong University, Tianjin University, and Zhejiang University. Most of these universities and research institutes have already established CO₂ heat pump laboratories and some of them have made prototypes. 

 

CO₂ as a refrigerant is a “no regrets option” for China. Once CO₂ is adopted the in refrigeration and heating sectors, the government will not face the problem of choosing other alternatives after several years when new international standards and obligations come out. 

 

Although the CO₂ heat pump is still new to the Chinese market, as meets several key consumer demands, I believe the market potential is significant and will grow fast in the future. In particular CO₂ heat pumps operate well under cold climates and can provide high temperature hot water. What’s more, CO₂ heat pumps can help landlords to save energy by warming up water from 15°C to a certain point before using gas-fired or electric boilers to heat water to the required temperature. 

 

The CO₂ heat pump can play a more active role in space heating especially in the North of China. Usually the hot water inside buildings for space heating needs to reach 65-70°C, which is unattainable for common heat pumps. Our company actually has more CO₂ heat pump projects for space heating than hot water heating. 

 

 

Li Gang: The market for CO₂ heat pumps in China is still a niche market today but with a large growth potential. In my opinion, like Japan, CO₂ heat pumps could also become popular in hot water and space heating in China.  I anticipate there could be up to 50,000 CO₂ heat pumps installed in China in 2020 and the market share could reach 5%. 

 

 

Li Gang: In China, compared with HFC based heat pumps, CO₂ heat pumps are usually 2 to 3 times more expensive. This is one of the biggest disadvantages of CO₂ heat pumps although CO₂ heat pumps are more competitive when it comes to producing high temperature hot water and have relative high COP. The reason most of our clients chose CO₂ heat pumps is because common heat pumps with HFCs as refrigerants cannot meet their needs of high temperature hot water. 

 

In addition, customer awareness and government support for CO₂ heat pumps is currently insufficient in China, which also impedes the emergence of a fast growing market.  

 

 

Li Gang: We have tried and are working hard to find more partners like energy companies to adopt CO₂ heat pumps for energy saving building management in China. We are also cooperating with research institutes and universities to jointly apply for projects and seek funding. But until now, there has been no major progress. Since the government is not familiar with the technology, there is no financial or policy support for CO₂ heat pumps right now. 

 

 

 

Shandong Melinda is a Chinese CO₂ heat pump manufacturer established in 2007. The company was one of the first to focus on the research, development and production of CO₂ heat pumps and high temperature water-source heat pumps. Its CO₂ heat pumps cover residential, commercial and industrial applications and have been applied throughout China in hotels, schools, hospitals and public sauna lounges, which have a high hot water demand.