Ground Source Heat Pumps - Retail

Ground Source Heat Pump technology works for a food retailer by extracting heat from the ground during the winter to heat the store, reducing the ground temperature from 14⁰C to 8⁰C.

When the weather warms up in summer and the air temperature exceeds the ground temperature, the stores refrigeration plant uses the ground rather than the air as a condensing medium, making it up to 15% more efficient. The heat from the fridge plant then replenishes the heat to the ground – creating a thermal balance.

The coefficient of performance of these systems measured as heat out over power in are typically around 3. The systems are constant flow - variable temperature devices and run with a supply temperature between 45⁰C and 30⁰C. This requires the heating system including pipework and coils to be sized specifically for these lower than usual supply temperatures.

These systems can be registered for renewable heat incentives in the UK @ c 3.7p/kWh(th) as at February 2018. With the current changes to F-Gas regulations across Europe it is important to make sure that the refrigerant gas in the heat pumps will not be phased out over the coming years.