"World's largest heat pump" is a 🇫🇮 lämpöpumppu (the only Finnish word I know, don't ask)
And in the competition for largest heat pumps, it is a bit like the Olympics: with many subcategories (heat source), there are many winners.
Here: air-to-water 🥇
https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy-environment/news/german-company-to-build-worlds-largest-heat-pump-in-helsinki/
#HeatPumps #DistrictHeating
Using CO2 as refrigerant, this heat pump delivers between 20 and 33 MW of heat!
"Additionally, the solution enables rapid power-balancing of the electrical grid, supporting the integration of intermittent power generation like solar and wind."
Finland’s capital city to reduce CO2 emissions by 26,000 tons annually with MAN heat pump technology Mega heat pump to harness ambient air and renewable electricity for heat generation MAN Energy Solutions to deliver a 33 MW air-to-water heat pump unit – the world’s largest ever used for a district-heating plant
Read more about this district heating project in Helsinki 🇫🇮, where the heat pump is complemented by two 50 MW boilers:
Helen is building an air-to-water heat pump plant and two electric boilers with combined heat production capacity of 100 MW (à 50 MW) in the company's existing production area in Patola. The air-to-water heat pump plant, based on new technology, is the first of its size in the world. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment granted an energy subsidy for the plant. The heating plant complex, designed to drive Helsinki's heat production towards carbon neutrality, is expected to enter production in the heating season of 2026–2027.
'Europe's largest heat pump' to be installed in Vienna 🇦🇹🥐
(🏅: sewage)
Not one, but 6 giant heat pumps will harvest heat from the Vienna waste water treatment plant to provide 90°C heat to the district heating (that also uses waste heat from a candy factory)
more on heat pumps in combination with district heating:
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230131-can-city-dwellers-ever-have-heat-pumps
I've been to Drammen in Norway 🇳🇴 where they use the ice cold water from the Oslo Fjord as heat source for the district heating. I didn't freeze.
Helsinki 🇫🇮 has a 126 MW heat pump in operation since 2006:
and there's another one under construction in Helsinki that should be operational by the end of next year:
https://www.hel.fi/fi/uutiset/helen-rakentaa-eiranrantaan-uuden-lampopumppulaitoksen
Helen rakentaa uuden lämpöpumppulaitoksen Eiranrantaan. Laitoksella tuotetaan hiilineutraalia kaukolämpöä ja kaukojäähdytystä puhdistetun jäteveden hukkaenergiasta. Louhintatyöt alkavat suunnitelmien mukaan alkuvuodesta 2023 ja laitoksen arvioidaan valmistuvan vuoden 2025 lopussa.
Aalborg 🇩🇰 has tendered for a 100 - 125 MW seawater heat pump for its district heating:
https://dbdh.dk/aalborg-forsyning-puts-denmarks-largest-seawater-heat-pump-out-to-tender/
Denmark's giant seawater heat pump will play an essential role in Aalborg's green transition. The plant has now been put out to tender, and when it goes into operation as planned in 2025, it must supply 25% of the district heating in Aalborg Forsyning's supply area. Aalborg Forsyning is planning the green heating solutions that
Stockholm 🇸🇪 a combination of heat pumps harvesting heat from purified waste water totalling a whopping 225 MW,
PLUS 6 🌊 sea water heat pumps - add another 180 MW!
Stockholm Exergi is responsible for heating and cooling production in the region of Stockholm. The district heat distribution network has a length of 3,000 km, and after the last coal-fired plant in …
a modest 3,2 MW waste water heat pump in Vancouver 🇨🇦 , being expanded to 9,9 MW
Now that the NEU has been in operation for the last 10 years, would you give us an overview of its upcoming expansion plans: the nature of the expanded service, its location in the city and the implications for demands on the current facility under the Cambie Bridge. The NEU service area has undergone a
The examples are multiplying - as with heat pumps, which use 1 unit of electricity to produce 3-4 units of heat to supply the district heating:
Helsinki 🇫🇮 is a world leader, with a 500 MW seawater heat pump system under construction:
Water works with heat pump in Frederiksberg 🇩🇰 (don't know the capacity, yearly output is 40 GWh of heat)
Hamburg 🇩🇪: 60 MW heat pump (4 x 15 MW) using waste water to heat district heating
Johnson Controls says it will supply four 15 MW heat pumps to the district heating network, in Hamburg, Germany. The new system will be equipped in the city's central wastewater treatment plant as part of a wastewater heat project.
50 MW heat pump system for Esbjerg 🇩🇰 using the Wadden Sea 🌊 as a heat source to heat the district heating system - and with its flexibility in electricity use helps integrate wind power & balance the grid
Mannheim, (for now) leading in the 'river' heat source category 🥇 with a 20 MW heat pump
https://www.mvv.de/ueber-uns/unternehmensgruppe/mvv-umwelt/aktuelle-projekte/mvv-flusswaermepumpe
Berlin 🇩🇪 : 75 MW waste water heat pumps under construction:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/heat-pumps-action-berlins-sustainable-future-karim-amin-scqif
Köln / Cologne 🇩🇪 getting ready for some 'chaleur de cologne' and to take over the lead from Mannheim (from the same river) with the world's largest river heat pump: 150 MW
https://www.rheinenergie.com/de/unternehmen/newsroom/nachrichten/news_71240.html
Kiel 🇩🇪 using sea water in the Kieler Fjord:
25 MW heat pump now in operation in Stuttgart 🇩🇪
https://www.enbw.com/presse/grosswaermepumpe-liefert-fernwaerme-fuer-10-000-haushalte.html
💪"Wrompa" is 🇵🇱 Poland's largest heat pump: once operational, it will be able to transfer 12.5 MW of heat from wastewater to the district heating system (which is currently 100% coal-based)
https://www.gov.pl/web/climate/wrompa---heat-pump-in-wroclaw
@burger_jaap
Great thread!
The pace of #SectorCoupling is amazing!
In Helsinki 🇫🇮 it's not only #HeatPumps:
https://www.helen.fi/en/about-us/energy/energy-production/power-plants
Katri Vala
165MW heat + 100 MW cool
Esplanadi
22MW heat + 50MW cool
Eiranranta (2025)
90MW heat + 60MW cool
... but also #SeasonalStorage:
https://www.helen.fi/en/news/2021/gigantic-heat-caverns-in-mustikkamaa-filled
Mustikkamaa (2021):
260.000 m3
Kruunuvuorenranta (2030):
300.000 m3
#ElectricBoilers are also being built promptly in 🇫🇮 as there is often cheap wind power available in winter.
@burger_jaap
Many cities might even do without #HeatPumps for heating, as #geothermal resources like the #Molassebecken in Southern Germany provide valuable #hydrothermal temperatures above 70°C-100°C at moderate drilling depths.
https://www.roedl.de/erneuerbare-energien/dienstleistungen/technologie/geothermie
The city of #Munich already features 6 geothermal plants, feeding #decarbonisedHeat into the 900km #DistrictHeating network.
https://www.swm.de/magazin/energie/geothermie
geothermal is also used in various projects in the Netherlands, such as this one for horticulture (plus also supplying to the residential area). I believe they use a heat pump on top as this is a lower temp. source.
https://my-mps.com/nieuws/ammerlaan-tgi-verduurzaamt-pijnacker-en-is-zelf-co2-neutraal/?lang=en
@burger_jaap
Now the #Helsinki energy utility Helen wants yet another #ElectricBoiler of 200 MW, claiming it is the largest in Europe.
The investment also includes a 1.000 MWh thermal storage tank that can charge and discharge at 100 MW.
Of course #HeatPumps are more energy efficient, but require more CAPEX and lead times. Thanks to #WindPower, electricity is increasingly available at near-zero cost even in winter, making efficiency irrelevant at such times.
https://www.helen.fi/en/news/2024/helen-to-build-europes-largest-electric-boiler-plant-in-hanasaari
Helen Ltd will build Europe’s largest electric boiler plant and a thermal battery consisting of two units in the Hanasaari energy block. Construction work will begin in spring 2025 and the plant complex will be commissioned during the heating season of 2026–2027.
Jaap Burger
Henri Horn