DeCarbCH Wiki Technologies - Heat Pumps

Large Scale Heat Pump


Description

As with high-temperature heat pump, the definition of large scale heat pump is not clear and is often use for heat pump with a heat capacity of at least 500 kW or 1 MW. The fundamental of large heat pump is not different than normal heat pump, the components are just much larger. The are designed to be used in the industrial sector or for heating district. The market is currently not large and thus only a couple of manufacturer offer large heat pumps. The table below shows some manufacturers. Large heat pumps have their own challenges such as transportation from the production to the implementation location, security issues depending on the refrigerants, vibration and weight of the system, and as well electrical connection. The European Heat Pump Association (EHPA) have written two reports on large scale heat pumps in Europe.
Examples

There are a few large heat pumps installed and running in Switzerland with more than 1 MW of heating capacity:
Project Name Location Sector Application Heat pump
manufacturer
Heating/cooling
capacity (kW)
Year
Les Vergers Meyrin District Heating Heating of residential buildings Friotherm 5'000/3'910 2018
City of Lausanne Lausanne (EPFL) District Heating Heating of residential buildings Sulzer 2 x 4'500 1985
Kellermann AG Ellikon an der Thur Fodd Hot water for greenhouse heating Johnson Controls 1'000 2012
Feldschlösschen, City of Rheinfelden Rheinfelden District Heating Brewery Mayekawa 1'350 2013
Feldschlösschen, City of Rheinfelden Rheinfelden Wastewater treatment Sewage sludge drying GEA 2 x 1'420 2013

References