A heat pump developed in Denmark is one of the largest in the world.

MAN Energy Solutions claims its product could take 2.5 million litres of water from 20°C to boiling point in under three hours – enough liquid to fill an Olympic swimming pool.

In the opposite way, it estimates to freeze all that water would take 11 hours using its heat pump.

This commercial heat pump has a heating capacity of 48MW and is thousands of times larger than a regular domestic version of the apparatus.

Installed in Esbjerg in Denmark, it can provide water up to a temperature of 90°C to almost 30,000 homes.

Growing demand in district heating has led the German-based company to develop this enormous heat pump, as Europe looks to cut the emissions associated with heating homes.