Viessmann Climate Solutions, a German manufacturer of propane (R290)-based residential and commercial heat pumps, will join Carrier’s portfolio. Heat pumps and related services constitute 70% of Viessmann Climate Solutions’ business. According to Reuters, the company’s sales have grown by 15% annually since 2020. The acquisition is expected to boost Carrier’s annual revenue to an estimated €15.5 billion ($16.9 billion). To achieve this, Carrier plans to streamline its portfolio by exiting its fire and security businesses, as well as its European commercial refrigeration division, which was agreed to be sold to Haier Smart Home for an enterprise value of $775 million ($705.1 million) in December 2023.
“With ViFlex, we have demonstrated that heat pumps in residential buildings can be controlled flexibly, fully automatically, and without any loss of comfort,” said Janosch Balke, Product Manager for Energy Services at Viessmann Climate Solutions. The ViFlex project, conducted with German transmission system operators TenneT Germany and TransnetBW, integrated more than 100 Viessmann heat pumps into live grid management operations over nearly three years. The pilot validated that domestic heat pumps can contribute to demand-side flexibility by shifting electricity consumption in response to grid signals, thereby relieving congestion and avoiding the curtailment of surplus renewable energy.
The integration of these devices into grid management highlights the growing role of decentralized flexibility. In the ViFlex pilot, heat pumps were aggregated into virtual pools via the Viessmann Cloud and connected to the Equigy Crowd Balancing Platform. This allowed load forecasts and available flexibility to be submitted to transmission system operators, who sent activation signals back to the devices. The process resulted in reliable, automated load shifting that reduced grid bottlenecks without interrupting household heat supply.
Leadership changes accompany the deal. Thomas Heim, CEO of Viessmann Climate Solutions, will become President of Residential and Light Commercial HVAC for Carrier in the EMEA region. Max Viessmann, CEO of the Viessmann Group, will join Carrier’s Board of Directors. Carrier CEO and Chairman David Gitlin stated that the combination creates “the most comprehensive and differentiated suite of sustainable climate technologies and services in the industry.” The more than 12,000 Viessmann Climate Solutions employees will join Carrier.
The acquisition aligns with broader regulatory trends in Europe aimed at integrating smart domestic energy appliances into grid services. Project partners are advocating for regulatory consolidation in Germany under a framework termed Redispatch 3.0, which would shift from cost-based to market-based approaches for congestion management. This mirrors the trajectory of the Smart Secure Electricity Systems (SSES) initiative in the UK, a joint program by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem). SSES is developing regulatory frameworks to govern smart appliances, including heat pumps and EV chargers, that participate in flexibility services.
