Hot water heating makes up about 30% of the average New Zealand household’s energy use. However, heat pump water heaters (HPWH) are still an emerging technology – particularly in the residential market. There are only an estimated 12,000 installed in New Zealand homes – compared to a total of around 2 million electric storage and gas instantaneous systems.
What are heat pump water heaters?
Heat pump water heaters, also known as hot water heat pumps, are an energy efficient and low emissions way to heat water in homes.
They use heat pump technology meaning they work similarly to space heating heat pumps. Instead of creating heat, they work by pulling heat from the air around them and using that to warm the water in the tank, which makes them much more efficient than traditional electric element storage water heaters (ESWH). They’re cheaper to run and can be particularly cost effective for households that use a lot of water.
What we are doing:
To encourage the uptake of HPWH technology EECA is undertaking research to understand:
- more about the performance of these products
- differences between products and product types
- how the technology functions in different climate zones and households
- suitability for demand flexibility opportunities, given water can be heated off peak and stored for use.
How we are doing it:
We are installing and monitoring about 70 heat pump water heaters in a variety of New Zealand homes.
- Installations will take place during 2025.
- The project is expected to run through to 2026.
- Installed products will be monitored for at least 12 months.
- Interim insights will be provided over the course of the project.
- A final report will be published in 2026.
Next steps
Most of the homes within the scheme will be social housing or owned by low-income New Zealanders, however, the homes used are primarily being selected because they meet the criteria for the research.
We are not seeking applications for this research directly from homeowners.
Stay up to date on the results of this research and other EECA news by signing up to the EECA newsletter.
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