HOT|COOL NO. 2/2020 - "Decarbonizing"

LARGE SCALE HEAT PUMPS

By Lars Hansen, Market Director, CTR (Metropolitan Copenhagen Heating Transmission Company); Morten Stobbe, Vice president, VEKS (DH in the Western suburban area of Copenhagen); Sannah Grüner, Project Manager, HOFOR Greater Copenhagen Utility

Due to these promising perspectives, HOFOR, VEKS, and CTR started a demo project to assist the technology development of large HPs for DH and to establish and test a state-of-the- art facility to demonstrate the feasibility and optimization potential of the technology. In 2016 there were very few large scales HPs in Denmark (>0.5 MJ/s) and the feasibility was low due to relatively low costs of heat production alternatives.

HOFOR, VEKS, and CTR strive for being CO 2 -neutral DH in 2025. To achieve this, they focus on existing and well-known technologies but also on new and less tested technologies. Among these, electric-driven heat pumps (HPs) are a promising opportunity. They can utilize low-temperature heat sources otherwise not exploited: geothermal energy, industrial excess heat, sewage water, seawater, groundwater, and ambient air. As electricity is becoming more CO 2 -neutral year by year, so are electric driven HPs. They furthermore help the integration of re-newable energy in the electricity system and the DH system (sector coupling).

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