Qvantum is a young heat pump and heating system company – but one with a more than 30-year long history. “We didn’t start our journey from scratch; we built it on what might just be the best heat pump competence in Europe,” says CEO Fredrik Rosenqvist.
MATS NILSSON and HENRIK BERGLUND are two of the most experienced and respected people in the Swedish heat pump industry. When they started Qvantum Energi in the early 90s, they were already veterans in the field. “I was actually the first ever to use a plate heat exchanger in a heat pump,” Mats says. “It was in 1985, and we were given prototypes from Alfa Laval who had just invented a system where the plates were soldered together instead of bolted with rubber gaskets. Before this, it was impossible to use plate heat exchangers with gases.” When Mats and Henrik first met, heat pumps were still considered a novelty, and many people couldn’t believe that the technology actually worked.
“I remember a man whose son told him it was a hoax,” says Henrik. “He said that anybody in their right mind realized that getting three times more out of a device than you put in was impossible …
”To this day, heat pumps are not very well known in large parts of the world. And there is doubt among some about their ability to function in cold climates. I always ask these people if they have an idea about the climate in Scandinavia, and most do, and they have this image of snow and ice and reindeer. Then I tell them that heat pumps account for about 60 % of all private home heating here. And that the northern most house in the country – some 300 km north of the polar circle – is heated with one.”
Mats and Henrik eventually decided to set up their own heat pump business – Qvantum Energi. The company soon made itself a name as a manufacturer of bespoke heat pumps for applications where off-theshelf products wouldn’t do the job. The product range ran up to 190 kW heat pumps, several times more potent than anything competitors could offer.
FREDRIK ROSENQVIST first came in touch with the company when he researched the 5th generation district heating systems of the kind that
“New Qvantum” now specializes in.
“Mats and Henrik’s company was the only one that could provide exactly what we needed and without seeing any problems. They understood immediately, went straight to the drawing table, and got to work.” Fredrik’s vision of “a new kind of company for a new kind of city heating” soon attracted more like-minded people, and a decision was made to turn it into a business reality. One key aspect was that the company should have its own heat pump production, and in 2021, Fredrik and his partners merged with Qvantum Energi to form what today is known simply as “Qvantum.” The same year another Swedish manufacturer – ETK Heat – were incorporated in Qvantum. They were known to have some of the best exhaust air heat pumps on the market. Since then, more and more key staff from Sweden’s biggest power and heat pump companies have joined Qvantum.
“We are a group of people with a vision,” Rosenqvist says. “To make this vision come true, we must make sure that it is shared by the people who are the best in their respective fields. We can only achieve this if we create a company that these people want to be a part of and where they can grow professionally as well as personally. By creating such a company, we get the best people to work with the best ideas. And that is why we will succeed.
