Global Electric Heat Tracing Market Size, Share, Opportunities, COVID-19 Impact, And Trends By Type of Heat Cable (Self-Regulating Heating Cables, Power-Limiting Heating Cable, Parallel Constant Watt Heating Cable, Series Constant Watt Heating Cables), By Method (Electric Resistance Heat Tracing, Skin Effect Tracing, Impedance Heat Tracing, Induction Heating), By End-User Industry (Chemical, Food and Beverage, Energy and Power, Oil and Gas, Others), And By Geography - Forecasts From 2021 to 2026

The global electric heat tracing market is projected to witness a CAGR of 5.04% during the forecast period to reach a market size of US$2.883 billion by 2026, increasing from US$2.043 billion in 2019. Heat trace is an advanced electrical system that is used in maintaining or raising the temperature of pipes and vessels. Electric heat has also been known as tracing heat tape or surface heating. It comparatively uses cable designed and developed to offer constant wattage per unit of length, to get uniform heating pipes.

Market Drivers

Electric heat tracing has its roots in several industrial applications ranging from oil and gas production and storage facilities, petrochemical plants, refineries, pharmaceutical production, power generation, water, and waste treatment plants, to food processing. Its use across industries helps factor the market ahead. Secondly, the shift from traditional heat tracing systems to these newer electric methods is another noteworthy driver. Along with it, the future potential of energy-efficient heat tracing systems will provide a push to the market in the years to come.

By type, self-regulating heating cables are expected to register the highest growth owing to their idealness for temperature maintenance and frost-prevention installations. By end-user, the oil and gas segment dominates the market.  Heat tracing is used in the assistance of the further processing, freeze and storage protection, and transportation of various types of energy products in both downstream and upstream applications in the oil & gas industry. By geography, North America accounts for the largest share due to its climatic conditions and the growing industrial applications.

Growth Factors

• Energy-efficient solutions

Electric tracing has been offered and provides the convenience and availability of installation and also offers extensive temperature control and efficient and productive utilization of energy. As these systems, do not require any auxiliary equipment, the total operating cost of the systems is lower compared to other systems. Moreover, the electric systems are an improvement over steam heat tracers as they can be used with non-metal or lined piping and vessels. Furthermore, steam tracing has various types of limitations such as poor temperature control and leakage of steam resulting in high operating costs, and high hot water system costs. Electric heat tracing is thus an optimal solution, through various industrial applications due to these advantages. 

• Manifold industrial applications

The oil and gas industry is one of the biggest end-users of electric heat tracing systems. Offshore applications of heat systems can help prevent winterization pipes, lay-down areas, helidecks, louvers, lifeboat davits, GPS, and communication antennas among others. While onshore application includes prevention of wax and hydrate formation on separators, test separators, lift gas systems, compressors, scrubber lift gas modules, fuel gas systems, and others. Electric heat tracing systems are also finding increasing demand from power plants. Plant elements requiring supplemental heat include pipes, valves, conveyors, lubrication systems, and lubricants that run through them. These heavy industries rely largely on these electrical heat tracers in their production processes which exert a positive impact on the market augmenting its growth during this period.

Restraints

The inherent cons of the electric heat tracing systems may pose restraining factors for the market. While self-regulating cables have shorter circuit lengths and are designed for low temperatures, parallel constant-watt cables cannot be used on plastic pipes. Moreover, the overlapping of the respective cables results in burnout and excessive heating and can damage and ruin the heat tracing system beyond repair. The installation of heat tracing systems for larger vessels and tanks is difficult and expensive as there is a massive amount of heat loss from these large systems. These limitations may put forth a challenge to the growth of the market.

Impact of COVID-19 on the Electric Heat Tracing Market

After the onfall of the Covid-19 pandemic, the reliant end-users of the electric heat tracing market have downsized their production levels and the demand for such systems has faced a decline. The oil and gas industry has reduced its capital expenditure to sustain the blow of the pandemic and this has impacted the heat tracing market negatively. There have also been delays and scarp-off of projects in the oil and power sectors due to the pandemic. But the relaxation of lockdowns has restarted production processes but the output levels remain lower than anticipated. The growth rates may improve by 2021 and full recovery is expected by 2022.

Competitive Insights

The market leaders for the Global Electric Heat Tracing Market are Spirax-Sarco Engineering plc, Danfoss, eltherm GmbH, BriskHeat, Parker Hannifin Corp, nVent Thermal LLC, Bartec, and TE Connectivity. The imperative players in the market implement several growth strategies to gain a competitive edge over their competitors. For instance,

• In 2019, Spirax-Sarco has acquired a former Philips Electronics subsidiary operating in the nuclear, aerospace, and electronics sectors in a deal worth €158m (£139m).
• Nibe Industrier AB bought 60 percent of the shares in BriskHeat Corp in 2018, while the remaining 40 percent have been acquired over the next three years.
• nVent Electric plc acquired CIS Global, a provider of intelligent rack power distribution and server slides products for a cash purchase price of approximately $200 million in 2021.

Global Electric Heat Tracing Market Scope:

Segmentation:

• By Type of Heat Cable
  • Self-Regulating Heating Cables
  • Power-Limiting Heating Cable
  • Parallel Constant Watt Heating Cable
  • Series Constant Watt Heating Cables
• By Method
  • Electric Resistance Heat Tracing
  • Skin Effect Tracing
  • Impedance Heat Tracing
  • Induction Heating
• By End-User Industry
  • Chemical
  • Food and Beverage
  • Energy and Power
  • Oil and Gas
  • Others
• By Geography
  • North America
    • USA
    • Canada
    • Mexico
  • South America
    • Brazil
    • Argentina
    • Others
  • Europe
    • Germany
    • France
    • United Kingdom
    • Italy
    • Spain
    • Others
  • Middle East and Africa
    • Saudi Arabia
    • UAE
    • Israel
    • Others
  • Asia Pacific
    • China
    • Australia
    • Japan
    • South Korea
    • India
    • Thailand
    • Taiwan
    • Indonesia
    • Others