Heat pumps in Denmark - From ugly duckling to white swan

Over the last 10 years, heat pumps have increasingly gained attention in Denmark as an integral part of the low carbon transition of the energy system. Moreover, since 2010, the smart grid system has been highlighted as an important element in this transition. The main reason being that the smart grid enables the integration of large amounts of intermittent wind energy into the electricity system via, among other things, intelligent interoperation with domestic heat pumps, which flexibly consume the ‘green’ electricity. A precondition for utilising heat pumps as essential smart grid technologies, however, is that a sufficient number of homeowners actually install them. Unfortunately, last year’s sales were disappointing. Several studies have investigated the ‘dissemination potential’ of heat pumps in Denmark, primarily through conventional market research approaches. However, there is clearly a lack of studies that take a more socio-technical approach to understanding how technologies such as the heat pump develop and how they come to have a place in society as a result of contingent, emergent and complex historical processes. This paper seeks to address this gap by exploring, firstly, the historical development of heat pumps in Denmark through an actor-network theory perspective and, secondly, by discussing the current challenges to a more widespread dissemination of heat pumps on the basis of this account. The research process reveals that heat pumps have a long and significant history in Denmark, but that this is underemphasised in the current debate about them. Furthermore, this historical account provides hints as to how we can rethink the present challenges facing the possible wider dissemination of heat pumps in Denmark.