New Public-Private Partnership Forms to Accelerate Heat Pump Adoption in California

The California Heat Pump Partnership officially launched, convening to bring together state agencies, manufacturers representing more than 90% of the U.S. consumer heat pump market, utilities and other market actors to help achieve the state’s goal to install six million electric heat pumps by 2030. Launched with a shared vision to catalyze a sustainable, decarbonized future, the public-private partnership will drive forward a clean energy economy and advance California’s climate objectives by propelling widespread heat pump adoption through cross-sector collaboration and strategic partnerships.

The CAHPP will develop a blueprint outlining how to address technical, market and policy barriers for achieving the state’s heat pump targets. The partnership will also deploy a statewide consumer marketing campaign through The Switch Is On, an initiative launched by the Building Decarbonization Coalition, to educate, inspire and make switching to electric appliances easier for communities, contractors and all those who live and work in buildings.

California has about 1.5 million heat pumps deployed and is on pace to install less than 200,000 heat pumps a year. To close the gap of 4.5 million heat pumps by 2030, heat pump adoption will need to nearly quadruple with about 750,000 units installed annually. Large-scale coordination efforts like the CAHPP are crucial to align major players in the clean energy transition and support California’s climate goals.

The partnership also builds on an agreement made last year by 10 of the world’s largest manufacturers, distributors and suppliers of heating and cooling equipment for buildings to rapidly scale the heat pump market. That agreement outlined commitments to help create manufacturing capacity, enhance efficiency and incorporate load flexibility to decarbonize California’s buildings.

The California Heat Pump Partnership members include:

• Heat pump manufacturers, including A. O. Smith, Bradford White, Carrier, Daikin, Fujitsu General America, Johnson Controls, Lennox, LG, Mitsubishi Electric, Rheem and Trane Technologies
• Distributor: Ferguson
• Electricity providers, including Pacific Gas and Electric, Edison International, Sacramento Municipal Utility District and Ava Community Energy
• Policymakers representing the California Energy Commission, California Air Resources Board, California Public Utilities Commission, and the office of Gov. Gavin Newsom
• Innovation leader: Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator