JESPER JARNHÄLL: AFTER THOUSANDS OF YEARS IT’S TIME TO MOVE ON
”Fire was for 1,000’s of years the only source of heat available in most parts of the world. But in a digital and electrified era, setting fire to things to heat our homes feels like an anachronism. Like a steam train in a science fiction movie.”
“Ever since dawn of time, fire has been crucial to the survival of man”, says Jesper Jarnhäll who is responsible for sales and marketing at Qvantum. ”But now it’s time to move on.”
Like Qvantum itself Jesper stems from Sweden, a country where fossil fuel heating of private homes was driven out of the market by heat pumps decades ago. Among other things, this has led to Swedish homeowners not being very affected by the recent natural gas crisis.
“There has been a hike in electricity prices, but since most homes in Sweden are heated with heat pumps or district heating, the actual heating cost is significantly lower than it would have been with gas. And there has never been the fear of a major shortage as there has been in other parts of Europe.”
“We want to make a life without dependency on fossil fuels for heating or cooling possible for the many people. Regardless of their wallet sizes. The next-generation commercial and residential heat pump solutions are our way of providing a way for the cities of Europe to combat the climate crisis.
Jesper sees several reasons why it is time to move on to a new phase in how the cities of Europe are heated: “There are four “Big D” megatrends that cross through all of society now:
DECARBONIZATION, DEMOCRATIZATION, DECENTRALIZATION, and DIGITALIZATION. And our systems and products are there to fit right in.
DECARBONIZATION IS OBVIOUS – we need to stop using fossil fuels, and electrification is the way to go. We design affordable low-carbon energy systems based on our own heat pumps that can rapidly be installed in existing as well as new developments.
DECENTRALIZATION makes society less vulnerable and more flexible. This comes in automatically with an electricity-based heat pump heating system, as you don’t have to depend on one energy supplier. You can negotiate with different power companies and change as often as you want. Or you can invest in wind, solar, and energy storage and become your own power supplier.
”We want to make a life without dependency on fossil fuels for heating or cooling possible for the many people.”
DIGITALIZATION MAKES IT POSSIBLE to use a system to its full potential. We can connect 1000’s of heat pumps and any number of other sources of information and let them exchange information and learn from each other. That way, the heat pumps can optimize how they run with respect to own PV-installations, energy costs, grid power market, frequency control markets e t c reducing both energy consumption and costs.”
DEMOCRATIZATION is as we see it about putting the power of transition in the hands of the many. The consumer of tomorrow is also a producer – a prosumer – and their power is a very big force. Our system makes it possible for everybody to join in and be part of the transition to a net-zero society. The fact that your heater can also act as your cooler is an interesting twist to this.
Jesper Järnhäll, CCO Qvantum Industries
All in all Jespers’ vision is clear and there is no turning back: “Society needs to stop using fossil fuels, and we have a technology that can play a major role in that transition. And make the chimneys of the European cities obsolete.”
QVANTUM raised €42 MILLION from investors
Early in January Qvantum announced that they had raised €42 million from leading investors. The new capital will support Qvantum’s growth and expansion strategy. The lead investors include Thomas von Koch (Partner and ex CEO of global private equity firm EQT) who invested through his private company and IMAS Foundation who is a part of the IKEA-sphere.
”I am deeply impressed by the team behind Qvantum, they possess world leading experience from energy systems, innovative technologies and high-quality production”, says Thomas von Koch.
“We are committed to decarbonisation and look for investments where our capital can make a difference. Energy transition is an important theme and Qvantum represents an interesting opportunity to support the clean transition for heating“, states Petter Odhnoff, CEO at IMAS Foundation.
Other investors are SEB Greentech, DIG Investment (connected to the H&M Persson family) and Gullspång Invest. Mats Rahmström, CEO of Atlas Copco is also investing through his private company and joins Qvantum as an industrial advisor.
“These are long term owners who not only see this as an investment in a company, but a way of accelerating the transition from fossil fuel dependency to renewable energy on a broader scale. For the benefit of all their other investments as well.”
