The Euros Energy HC Plant, the Heat Plant of the Future, maximizes the use of locally available renewable energy sources. It ensures almost complete decarbonization and achieves climate neutrality.
The installation provides 90% of renewable energy in the balance and a supply temperature of 80⁰C, easily meeting the requirements for modernized district heating systems.
In the Heat Plant of the Future technology, efficient reversible heat pumps are integrated with three low sources: air heat exchangers, low-temperature ground storage, and high-temperature water storage. The system is powered by electricity produced directly on-site from hybrid solar collectors (PVT) and from a nearby photovoltaic installation (PV). On winter nights, the system is supported by electricity from the National Power Grid, including electricity purchased under Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) contracts with a guarantee of origin from renewable energy sources.
Thanks to emission-free heat storage from summer to winter, a total SCOP (Seasonal Coefficient of Performance) value of 3.5 has been achieved for the heat pump system. This SCOP value guarantees that at least 70% of the heat comes from renewable sources, even if all the electricity were produced from coal. In reality, most of the required electricity is generated locally from PV and PVT modules.
Heat storage takes place at three levels:
- short-term (buffer),
- seasonal low-temperature ground storage,
- seasonal high-temperature water storage.
Heat pump units can operate as heat sources using either an air heat exchanger, a low-temperature ground storage, or a high-temperature water storage. The upper heat source can be a buffer supplying the district heating network, as well as low-temperature ground storage and high-temperature water storage.
Euros Energy HC Plant’s share of renewable energy sources (RES) exceeds 90%. Further increase in the share of RES from local sources is possible in two ways:
- firstly, by using locally produced electric energy from wind turbines, whose production profile partially complements the energy production profile from a photovoltaic installation;
- the second way to achieve a 100% RES share is to invest in a very large electric energy storage facility.
However, currently electric energy storage facilities are characterized by high unit costs, therefore, due to the economic optimization of the project, their use has been abandoned. Nevertheless, a compromise between maximizing RES in the system and cost-effectiveness allows Euros Energy HC Plant to achieve an excellent renewable energy sources share ratio above 90%.
In accordance with the competition requirements, it was assumed that electric energy purchased from KSE under a PPA agreement with a guarantee of origin from renewable energy sources will not exceed 15% of the Demonstrator’s energy demand for heating and domestic hot water. Electric energy without a guarantee of origin will be used as a last resort.
It is worth noting that the use of heat pump systems enables the use of electric energy from remote RES sources, such as wind farms or biogas plants. This makes it possible to achieve a 100% RES balance.
