Frank GmbH, a company in Germany, took advantage of this development and installed a heat pump system in a detached house in Loosdrecht, south-west of Amsterdam, as part of the Renewable Energy Solutions (RES) programme. Heat pump systems usually extract the required heat energy from the ambient air or the ground. However, there is also great potential for utilising surface water as a sustainable heat supply in the Netherlands, in particular. Lakes, rivers and the sea harbour are previously little-used sources of energy that are available all year round. In order to tap this potential, Frank GmbH developed special surface water-source heat exchangers for heat pumps that can be installed in bodies of water.

With the RES programme, the German Energy Solutions Initiative of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Action (BMWK) supports German companies in the renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors enter new markets. Within the framework of the programme, reference plants are installed and marketed with the support of the German Energy Agency (dena). Information and training activities help ensure a sustainable market entry and demonstrate the quality of climate-friendly technologies made in Germany.