Stiebel Eltron, a Germany-based heating manufacturer, will invest €450 million ($496 million) to expand heat pump production capacity at its main factory in Holzminden, Lower Saxony, Germany. The company aims to quadruple the capacity and wants to triple the number of employees at the facility to about 1,200.

The expansion plan has already started, and the production area for heat pumps will be extended to the size of four soccer fields. Stiebel Eltron's decision to expand is attributed to the increasing demand for heat pumps in Germany.

Stiebel Eltron's COO, Kai Schiefelbein, said the expansion is part of the company's efforts to support the energy transition and create new jobs in Germany. Unlike many competitors, the company is expanding its capacities for environmentally friendly heating technology at domestic locations. Bosch, for instance, recently announced plans to build a heat pump factory in Poland.

Over the past three years, Stiebel Eltron has more than tripled its employees in Germany from 1,000 to around 3,200, despite a shortage of skilled workers. The company has been training unskilled applicants internally, and they can be deployed at production sites within weeks.