Watt’s Next : The EU Electrification Action Plan as a Catalyst for European Competitiveness
9 December from 09h30 to 17h30 - Brussels (in-person event)
Electrification is one of Europe’s most powerful levers for energy security, resilience, and affordable power. Despite remarkable growth in clean energy generation, progress on end-use electrification has faced significant challenges. With the European Commission set to unveil its Electrification Action Plan in early 2026, the time for bold decisions is now.
Our speakers will discuss how to break down persistent barriers and unlock Europe’s potential for secure, competitive, and sustainable growth.
Check out full agenda and registration link available below - participation is limited to 150 attendees!
Learn more about the work being carried out surrounding the project's demonstration sites:
Demo Site 1 in Weissenborn, Germany
Industry in which it’s applied: Pulp and Paper
Technology Involved: Vapour Compression heat pump with piston compressors
Partners involved: Fraunhofer (Knowledge Provider and performance assessment), Sustainable Process Heat (Technology provider) and Felix Schoeller (Demo Site Owner)
Demosite in Weissenborn
Progress
After the successful delivery of the container solution with the double stage High-Temperature Heat Pump by SPH and completing the integration works, approval procedures by the Technical Inspection Association (TÜV) were successfully finalized. Moreover, commissioning works have progressed further with first operational start/stop procedures and initial steam productions by the High-Temperature Heat Pump. The designed monitoring and data acquisition system has been set up, tested and is running. All in all, system optimization has played a key role in this commissioning phase.
Next steps
In order to achieve maximum operational performace minor works within the current heat source circuit are scheduled to take place in the next weeks. As a result, the commissioning along control integration and optimization, as well as training of staff on site, is expected to take place in parallel
Demo site Interviews: DiscoverPush2heat's Demosite 2
in Guarcino, Italy
Industry in which it’s applied: Pulp and Paper Technologies involved: High Temperature Heat Pump (HTHP)
Partners involved: Cartiere di Guarcino (Demo Site Owner), POLIMI (Performance Assessment), BONO (Knowledge Provider, Technology provider and system integrator)
Interviewing: Mehdi Aminyavari, Heat Pump Technology Leader at Cannon Bono Energia
Could you provide us with a short description of the demo site in Guarcino, Italy?
As Demo 3, the demo site is located at Cartiera di Guarcino (CDG), a paper mill in Italy. The plant is divided into three main areas: the production site, the energy generation site, and the offices and other buildings.
The production area includes two paper machines housed in separate warehouses, while the generation area features two gas boilers and a combined heat and power (CHP) plant. Steam produced by both the boilers and the CHP system is collected at a central distribution point, adjusted to the required pressure, and then supplied throughout the facility.
The hot water is mainly destined for space heating, and a small portion is used for other domestic needs. As for CDG's electricity consumption, the plant typically consumes approximately 140 MWh per day, with nearly 100 % of this power being supplied by BEG.
The energy consumption of CDG production site is in the form of saturated vapor.
What’s your motivation to participate in the project and what is your role?
BONO, traditionally a boiler manufacturer, recognized the importance of heat upgrade technologies and industrial electrification back in 2020. Since then, they have introduced several electric boilers to the market. In the context of the P2H project, BONO joined the consortium as a system integrator aiming to evaluate other heat up-grade technologies in close collaboration with other partners. Building on the experience gained from developing a low-temperature (70°C) hot water heat pump for the wood industry, BONO decided to take the next step and on April 2025 accepted the role of technology provider as well as designer and manufacturer the High Temperature Heat Pump (HTHP) capable of producing steam for industrial processes.
Can you provide an overview of the technology to be scaled up in DEMO 2?
The technology to be scaled up in DEMO 2 is a High-Temperature Heat Pump (HTHP) capable of producing steam both directly and indirectly for industrial processes. It operates within a wide temperature range—from 60°C (sub-atmospheric) up to 160°C—making it suitable for recovering and reusing various sources of waste heat.
These systems are modular and customizable, allowing tailored configurations for different industrial applications, with capacities ranging from 300 kW to 3 MW and based on different compressor technologies.
The HTHPs will use organic or natural refrigerants with zero ozone depletion potential (ODP) and a global warming potential (GWP) below 5, ensuring high efficiency and minimal environmental impact.
What are the challenges expected to be faced in your demo site?
The main challenges for adopting industrial high-temperature heat pumps (HTHPs) are their high upfront costs and the need for a coefficient of performance (COP) high enough to compete with the electricity-to-gas price ratio. To address this, Cannon Bono is developing a direct steam-producing screw compressor heat pump using the low-GWP refrigerant R1233zdE, which ensures safety and efficient high-temperature steam production.
An oil-free screw-type Mechanical Vapor Recompression (MVR) system is also being implemented to deliver pure steam while reducing operational and maintenance costs. The combination of the screw heat pump and MVR offers the most promising balance between performance and cost for common industrial applications.
What is the expected outcome?
Within PUSH2HEAT, Cannon Bono aims to recover around 600kW heat from the cooling water of a cogeneration plant to produce 1310 kg/h of steam. With the evaporation temperature of the heat pump at 70°C and delivered steam at 6.5 barA (162°C), the system has a COP =3.
Progress and Next Steps
As of November 2025, apart from the control cabinet, all the other components have arrived, the detail engineering has been finished and manufacturing of the base frame of the skid has been started.
BONO plans to conduct partial load tests (at 40% capacity) at their facility starting in mid-December, before shipping the high-temperature heat pump (HTHP) to CDG by the end of January. At the same time, all technical alignments between CDG, BONO, and the MVR manufacturer have been completed, and CDG has begun the necessary electrical modifications to accommodate the new system.
Industry in which it’s applied: Pulp and Paper Technologies involved: Absorption Heat Transformer (AHT)
Partners involved: Tecnalia (System design and performance assessment), Technische Universtät Berlin (Technology and Operation optimisation), BSNOVA (Technology Provider), Cartiere di Guarcino (Demo Site Owner) and BONO ENERGIA (system integrator and engineering)
Demonstrator 3 of the P2H project combines absorption heat pump technology with a steam generation system. The system captures residual heat from the cogeneration unit of a paper mill at around 85–90 °C and upgrades it to produce steam at 6.5 bar(a). The key advantage of the Absorption Heat Transformer (AHT) technology is that it is a thermally driven heat pump, resulting in extremely low electricity consumption. This makes high-temperature heat pumping economically feasible even in regions with elevated electricity prices.
The AHT and the steam generation module were manufactured and shipped to Cartiera di Guarcino, the paper mill in Italy.
Progress
Installing the system on-site posed a challenge, but a solution was found: the AHT was carefully positioned in its designated location by bringing the unit in through the roof.
Installation of AHT
Integration work has since progressed, including piping connections, integration with the heat source and heat sink via water and steam lines, as well as control and measurement instrumentation and all electrical installations. With the on-site implementation phase nearing completion, current efforts are focused on commissioning the system. Activities are being carefully coordinated among the technology partners (BS NOVA, TECNALIA, and TUBERLIN), the engineering team (BONO), and the plant (CARTIERA DI GUARCINO) to ensure a smooth commissioning and successful start-up.
Next steps
The heat recovery system is expected to be fully operational very son, and we are excited to see steam being produced from waste heat.
Industrial Scale System in Belgium
Industry in which it’s applied: Chemical Technology involved: Thermochemical Heat Transformer
Partners involved: Qpinch unit, Borealis Antwerp
Progress
During April and May 2025, the Qpinch unit was recommissioned.
In June 2025, the unit became fully operational, marking the start of:
Waste heat recovery from two sources: (1) reactor cooling water and (2) excess low-pressure steam.
Production of medium-pressure steam (6 barg), exported to the client’s MPS header.
Between July and September 2025 significant progress was achieved in two main areas:
Process stability and reliability: Continuous optimization of the interface with the client’s systems (waste heat, steam, cooling water, boiler feed water, etc.). The main focus has been on ensuring that any upset on the Qpinch side cannot cause instability in the client’s processes, while the unit can autonomously absorb fluctuations coming from the client. For this specific application, a high degree of flexibility towards waste heat input (temperature and load) has been successfully achieved.
Production capacity: The steam output of the unit was gradually ramped up, reaching 1 t/h by mid-September. The unit’s performance remains strongly dependent on the amount of waste heat made available by the client.
Next Steps
A scheduled shutdown took place in October to carry out maintenance activities on the Qpinch unit.
Preparations are underway to share the operational data collected over the past months as input for performance monitoring under Work Package 4.
Latest News
Conference on High-Temperature Heat Pumps for Industrial Decarbonisation in Madrid
On October 22, TECNALIA Research & Innovation hosted the event “High-Temperature Heat Pumps for Industrial Decarbonisation” in Madrid.
The conference, organised within the framework of Push2Heat project, brought together around 120 representatives from industry, research, and policy, with strong participation from end users and integrators. The event was sold out, showing one thing clearly: the industry is ready to engage in serious discussions about heat pumps as a key solution for electrifying industrial processes.
The first session focused on the technological dimension, with presentations from Spanish companies KEYTER and TAMOIN on their latest advances in high-temperature heat pump systems. TECNALIA (Laura Alonso) and SEDICAL (Ander Aparicio) then showcased the first industrial-scale installations, including PUSH2HEAT pilot plants and Spain’s first high-temperature heat pump producing process steam by recovering heat from a district heating network.
From a business perspective, Ignacio Flores (ENGIE) presented innovative models to overcome key barriers such as high upfront costs, highlighting the potential of the “heat-as-a-service” model to accelerate adoption.
Finally, Ángel Carrera (TECNALIA) delivered a keynote on flexibility as a driver of industrial competitiveness, stressing how increased renewable integration offers opportunities for electrified thermal processes and participation in electricity markets to achieve decarbonisation while remaining competitive.
A roundtable to discuss the opportunities and challenges for the industrial adoption of high temperature heat pumps was organized with key participants covering the whole value chain, from policy makers (SPRI, Cristina Oyon), key research entities (Miguel Ramirez from TNO, representing our sister project SPIRIT; and Ignacio Linares from ICAI), technology provider (Jose Pascual Martí from RANK) and business and end-user perspective (Ignacio Flores, ENGIE).
It is not easy to summarise all the valuable insights shared during the event, but a few key messages clearly emerged. Real-world case studies proved that high-temperature heat pump technologies are already available and advancing steadily. What is now needed is coordinated, collective action to strengthen synergies, scale up deployment, and recognise industrial heat pumps as strategic infrastructure for a climate-neutral and energy-efficient European industry.
SUSTAINABLE PLACES 2025: Keep it cool: Clustering workshop on cooling solutions for data centers and other industries
Together with sister projects from the 2Cool2Waste cluster, POLIMI participated in Sustainable Places 2025, contributing to the workshop “Keep it cool: Clustering workshop on cooling solutions for data centers and other industries.”
POLIMI (Gianluca Abrami, Marcello Aprile)presented the project and demo sites, highlighting their work on continuous monitoring—tools and strategies implemented to optimize system performance. Replication studies and WP5 case studies were also showcased, including alternative applications such as district heating, demonstrating how high-temperature heat pumps can link data center waste heat to local heating networks.
On 8 October, the Push2Heat project was presented at the MIAC Energy Conference in Lucca, Italy. BONO (Mehdi Aminyavari)introduced the project and showcased Demo 2 and Demo 3, focused on advancing heat upgrade technologies for the paper industry.
The presentation highlighted key performance results, including a 10% reduction in fuel consumption for steam generation, steam production at 1.7 barA and compression to 6.5 barA, and installation close to the main steam header to minimise thermal losses.
These innovations demonstrate the potential of high-temperature heat pumps to significantly enhance energy efficiency and support the decarbonisation of industrial processes such as paper production.
OST Webinar Showcased Advances in Steam-Generating Heat Pumps
On 21 October 2025, the Institute for Energy Systems (IES) at OST – Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences hosted the webinar “Steam-Generating Heat Pumps (SGHP)” as part of the SWEET DeCarbCH initiative. The event provided a platform to discuss requirements, challenges, and success factors for implementing SGHPs in industrial applications, highlighting their practical benefits and technical, economic, and organisational considerations.
Expert speakers from academia and industry, including Nestlé, Mayekawa, Turboden, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and TECNALIA, presented on topics such as water-based refrigerants, food industry applications, turbo MVR technology, and R&D developments.
The webinar concluded with a call for continued collaboration to accelerate large-scale deployment of SGHPs. Presentation and a recording of the session will be available soon in the link below.
Watt’s Next : The EU Electrification Action Plan as a Catalyst for European Competitiveness
On 15 October, the Watt’s Next webinar showcased cutting-edge use cases of heat pumps and organic ranking cycle (ORC) technologies—showing how companies across Europe are already reducing costs and emissions.
The event came at a pivotal moment, with the EU revising its Heating & Cooling Strategy and preparing the launch of its Electrification Action Plan, highlighting the need to engage policymakers, industry leaders, and innovators in building a climate-neutral future.
TECNALIA (Laura Alonso) presented a Push2Heat case study, demonstrating the practical industrial implementation of heat pumps and how research is driving real-world impact.
20th Conference on sustainable development of energy, water and environment systems (SDEWES)
CARTIF (Carolina Pastor De Paz) presented the article “Unlocking Waste Heat Potential: Strategies for Industrial Energy Optimization and Decarbonization” at the recent SDEWES conference. The presentation focused on one of the five project use cases: industrial waste heat for neighbouring sites.
Key insights from the techno-economic analysis include:
Waste heat recovery in the steel and chemical sectors can reach several MW at temperatures above 90°C, suitable for high-performance heat pumps.
Pilot sites demonstrate waste heat upgraded from 40°C to 140°C, replacing fossil-fuel boilers.
Case studies confirm CO₂ reductions, operational cost savings, and payback times of a few years.
The results highlight the significant potential of industrial waste heat recovery to support decarbonization, provided enabling policies and sector-specific strategies are in place.
PUSH2HEAT was proudly presented at ISK-SODEX 2025 at the European Heat Pump Association (EHPA) booth, Hall 7 – A22, from 22 to 25 October 2025. The event offered an opportunity to showcase how the project is advancing industrial heat upgrading for a decarbonised future.
As one of the leading international trade fairs for HVAC&R, energy efficiency, and sustainable technologies, ISK-SODEX provided an ideal platform to explore the role of industrial heat pumps and Heat Upgrade Technologies (HUTs) in supporting Europe’s energy transition.
The EHPA Projects Team presented ongoing and upcoming EU-funded initiatives in the heat pump sector, including PUSH2HEAT, and hosted information sessions on certification and policy to engage industry stakeholders.
As part of the 2cool2waste cluster, the first webinar on “Boosting energy efficiency in industry: proven solutions & real business cases” took place on 2 October, bringing together experts to explore how European industries can cut costs, reduce emissions, and boost efficiency through renewable energy, waste heat recovery, and advanced thermal management.
From Push2Heat, CARTIF presented “Unlocking Waste Heat Potential with PUSH2HEAT: Strategies and Business Models for Industrial Decarbonization.” The presentation highlighted how waste heat recovery and electrified thermal processes can deliver both cost savings and emission reductions, showcased real-life demonstrations, and provided insights from leading innovators driving Europe’s green transition.
Discover concrete solutions and business cases from 11 Horizon Europe projects working on renewable energy, waste heat recovery, and advanced thermal management.
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