The Dutch energy supplier Eneco and the De Stichtse Rijnlanden Water Board (HDSR) have activated the largest heat pump in the Netherlands in the city of Utrecht.
The heat pump is located on the site of the Utrecht sewage treatment plant and uses purified hot wastewater from HDSR to generate heat for the local network.
“Every day, the heat pump extracts residual heat from approximately 65 million liters of purified wastewater,” Eneco said in a statement. “This is water from showers, kitchen taps, dishwashers and washing machines and has a temperature of 12 degrees in winter to over 22 degrees in summer.”
A heat exchanger extracts heat from the waste water and the large heat pump increases the water temperature up to 75 C for the heating network. An 18 meter high heat buffer with a diameter of 18 meters ensures a continuous heat supply.
“The system can provide 20,000 homes with sustainable heat annually,” says Eneco. “The collaboration with HDST makes it possible to use heat in a circular manner. We reuse the heat that people use at home to provide households with new heat and hot water in their homes.”
The company did not reveal any additional technical details about the system.
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