Energy Efficiency
Germany to Get World’s Largest Heat Pump
The EUR 200 million district heating facility is being built in the western German city of Mannheim.
Nov 17, 2025
Mannheim-based energy company MVV Energie has commissioned STRABAG Umwelttechnik to realize the project, which will have a thermal output of up to 165 megawatts. That will make it the largest heat pump in the world.
The facility will use water from the Rhine River as a heat source to produce district heat with temperatures as high as 130 degrees Celsius.
“Thanks to energy from thermal waste treatment, our biomass combined heat and power plant, and the first river-source heat pump, we are already able to cover nearly 50 percent of our district heating needs from renewable sources,” MVV Chief Technical Officer Hansjörg Roll said in a statement. “The new river-source heat pump is scheduled to go into operation in winter 2028, providing climate-friendly heat for up to another 40,000 households.”
The project is receiving support from a national German funding initiative for efficient heating networks (BEW). Construction ius expected to start in mid-2026.
