Germany’s MAN Energy Solutions has delivered two 50 MW seawater heat pumps for district heating to the port of Esbjerg, Denmark. They use carbon dioxide as a refrigerant and get their power from nearby wind farms. The project will start producing 350,000 MWh of heat per year in the fall.
An industrial-scale heat pump replaces coal heat in Esbjerg’s district heating. After the district heating and seat systems have already been put into use, the solution will be put into use this fall, MAN Energy said on its website. It supplies heat to 25,000 households and produces 350,000 MWh of heat per year.
The heat pump can reach a maximum temperature of 150 C and deliver 90 C water to the city’s district heating network.
“One of the unique features of this heat pump solution is that its excess wind power can balance the grid if needed,” said Karl Böhle, Senior Project Manager at MAN.
The ETES heat pump can convert excess wind or solar electricity into heat, store it and send it to customers on days when there is little sun or wind, MAN Energy says on its website.
“A heat pump system can actually change its electricity consumption,” said Kenneth Jørgensen, project director at DIN Forsyning, the facility behind the project. “We can sell this to the network as a service to increase renewable energy. So we can help grid operators to offer better electricity services and at the same time deliver clean and cheap heat to our customers.
