Energy performance of photovoltaic-assisted two-stage heat pump systems in existing multi-family buildings: Three case studies from Europe

Mu Huang, Jeannette Wapler, Sebastian Helmling, Jon Iturralde, Lorenzo Civalleri, Franz Hengel, Jakob Hütter and Danny Günther

Energy, 2025, vol. 332, issue C

Abstract: Photovoltaic-assisted two-stage heat pump systems—integrating both centralized and decentralized heat pumps—represent a promising solution for decarbonizing existing multi-family buildings. This study aims to conduct the first empirical investigation into the energy performance of these systems based on three case studies from Europe. By establishing comparable energy performance metrics, the necessary field data was collected and preprocessed for an annual assessment. The overall seasonal performance factors of the heat pump systems are similar, averaging around 2.0 across all three case studies. Between 63.5 % and 76.3 % of the primary energy used for heating and cooling comes from renewable energy sources. Compared to previous heating supply systems, greenhouse gas emissions from the heat pump systems are reduced by 65.4 %–84.3 %, fulfilling the European Union's target of a 60 % reduction by 2030. Between 60.9 % and 86.4 % of the emission savings are attributed to the installation of the two-stage heat pump systems, while 13.6 %–39.1 % of the savings result from photovoltaic electricity self-consumption. The findings demonstrate the technical feasibility of retrofitting photovoltaic-assisted two-stage heat pump systems in existing multi-family buildings across various climate and energy demand conditions, highlighting their potential to significantly contribute to sustainable building practices.

Keywords: Decentralized heat pumps; Low-temperature distribution loop; Existing multi-family buildings; Photovoltaic; Monitoring; HAPPENING (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S036054422502866X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:332:y:2025:i:c:s036054422502866x

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.137224

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

More articles in Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().