The objective of this work is to investigate the energy saving potential of HTHP&DW (high temperature heat pump coupling to desiccant wheel) system by means of comparative analysis based on reference technologies. A complete numerical model of HTHP&DW system is established and the iterative algorithm is successfully applied and tested. The energy consumption, COP (coefficient of performance) and energy saving rate of HTHP&DW system are simulated under the different outdoor climates and indoor design conditions. The results show that energy saving rate of proposed system is 45.6% compared to CVC (conventional vapor compression) system and 30.5% compared to advanced HDC (hybrid desiccant cooling) system under the AHRI (Air-conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute) design conditions. The impact of outside air humidity ratio is significant on the performance of HTHP&DW system. When the humidity is lower than 11 g/kg, the energy saving rate is up to 65% compared to CVC system. The lower indoor design temperature and higher indoor design humidity ratio are in favor of the energy saving of HTHP&DW system. Especially the energy consumption will decrease 20% when the indoor design humidity ratio increases 1.0 g/kg. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.