Unexploded bombs, invasive plants, ancient castle walls and a harbour full of fish are not what you’d expect a new heat pump project would have to deal with.
But for Hugh Thompson, project manager with Vital Energi, all of these issues came up around a water source heat pump project in Bristol, UK.
The project faced multiple planning and construction challenges. These ranged from the extremely constrained site – which meant they could only carry out one operation at a time – to the archaeology of the historical area.
Project developers had to deal with invasive plant species like Japanese knotweed, and protect the fragile ecology of the harbour. They calibrated the pump speeds to ensure fish and eels would not get caught in it.
They also had to be on the lookout for potential unexploded second world war bombs in the area.
Despite the many constraints, the project is now the largest single water source heat pump installation in the UK – providing water up to 80°C, and won the heat pump city of the year award in 2022.s and ensuring the
The project was presented at a webinar moderated by EHPA’s Martina Battocchio, which presented the Heat Pump Award-winning projects from 2022. Every year, the heat pump awards go to a range of amazing and exciting projects from Europe and beyond.
The awards are sponsored by Frascold S.p.A. and Brussels Environment.
”Decarbonisation of heating is absolutely a viable option,” says Marco Perri, from Frascold. He presented a winning project: ‘The world’s most environmentally friendly furniture factory’ – The Plus factory in Magnor, Norway.
Andreas Bäckäng, Enrad AB also discussed the furniture factory project and stressed the importance of the move to natural refrigerants.
Using waste heat combined with a heat pump means that the factory will generate 55 per cent less greenhouse emissions.
Martti Kukkola, from Oilon presented a winning project which combines district heating with heat pump technology for a new apartment building in Helsinki’s Postipuisto district.
Completed in 2021, the building has a circular system, using waste heat and water. It has 113 apartments as well as a grocery store.
Next, a project which proved you really can generate heat from the air when the temperature is 30°C below freezing!
Janne Vanhanen, Raksystems Suomi presented the innovative, award winning Geolo project which brought pump technology innovation to a high school and housing project.
Last but not least, what did the people pick as their favourite heat pump project in 2022?
Louis Rompre, Trane Technologies presents the winner – from Broomfield College in Derby, UK.
The campus’s existing gas-fired boilers were replaced with heat pumps, driving efficiency up to 400%.
Want to apply for the 2024 awards? Find out more: https://hpa.ehpa.org
