As the world shifts towards decarbonisation, cities across Europe are turning to large-scale heat pump systems to power their district heating networks. In what could be the most powerful heat pump modules ever built, German energy company MVV Energie is planning to install two 82.5 megawatt units in Mannheim, capable of supplying heat to around 40,000 homes.
The sheer scale of these heat pumps is staggering. The pipe that will draw water from the River Rhine to fuel the system is so large that a person could walk through it upright. MVV Energie plans to suck up 10,000 litres of river water per second, harvesting the heat before returning the cooled water.
This project is part of the company’s efforts to transition its Mannheim coal power plant to cleaner technologies. “There was a lot of pressure on us to change the heat generation to new sources, especially renewable sources,” explains Felix Hack, the project manager at MVV Environment.
The size of the heat pumps was determined partly by logistical constraints, with the team considering whether the components could be transported through the streets of Mannheim or potentially via barges along the Rhine.
While MVV Energie’s heat pumps are set to be the largest in the world, they are part of a growing trend. Across Europe, cities are investing in increasingly powerful district heating systems, with heat pumps playing a central role.
In Aalborg, Denmark, Everllence, another German company, is working on an even more powerful system with a total capacity of 176 megawatts. This will use four 44-megawatt modules, the same as those used in a previous project in Esbjerg, Denmark.
These large-scale heat pump systems offer several advantages. They can harvest heat from a variety of sources, including bodies of water, wastewater, and even the air. Additionally, the flexibility of district heating networks allows operators to run different numbers of heat pumps depending on demand, optimising efficiency.
The UK, however, lags behind in this technology. While some new district heating networks are in development, such as the 12-megawatt Exeter Energy Network, the country has yet to see heat pump systems on the scale of those being built in mainland Europe.
Nonetheless, experts see opportunities for the UK to catch up, particularly in post-industrial and rural areas where there is adequate space for heat pumps and storage tanks.
As cities and towns across Europe embrace this innovative technology, the race is on to build ever-larger and more efficient heat pump systems to power the low-carbon heating of the future.
