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Sweden's Aira opens $321 million heat pump plant in Poland

Swedish heatpump group Aira will open its first factory this week, a 300 million euro ($ 320.9 million) plant in Poland, with a strategy to roll out complete capacity of 500,000 systems each year as European need rises, its CEO stated.

Aira, founded by Vargas Holding, which likewise owns battery maker Northvolt, is targeting European markets consisting of Britain and Germany where heat pump penetration is relatively low compared to its home market, Martin Lewerth said in an interview.

He said the company had a really favorable outlook as needed, with gas costs staying at a historically high level.

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which led to a major energy crunch, the European Union stated it would aim to deploy at least 30 million heat pumps this years to decrease reliance on imported nonrenewable fuel sources.

European heat pump sales struck a record 2.77 million that year however fell 5% in 2023, data from European Heatpump Association program, as departments on the pace and cost of the green shift caused a phase-out of the German fossil fuel boiler ban last fall.

In December, the European Commision delayed the statement of the Heat Pump Action Strategy till after the EU election.

Lewerth said he anticipates the slowdown to be momentary as the pace of setups is robust, while subsidies in key markets have increased.

In the UK, they increased the aids from 5,000 pounds ($ 6,319) to 7,500 - in Germany, you can get up to 70% aid on your installation. I believe these are really strong signals.

The company's backers include Lingotto, Statkraft Ventures, and Temasek.

(source: Reuters)