GROUNDHIT - Advancement in Ground Source Heat Pumps Through EU Support

Abstract

Since summer 2004 the European Commission supports a project for R&D on advanced ground source heat pumps (GSHP). This project is coordinated by CRES (Greece), and connects partners from Austria, France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, and Romania. Beside the development of improved components an important goal is the transfer of experiences from the ?classical? GSHP-countries into other regions, in particular East and South Europe and the Mediterranean. The first project phase aimed at the development of the following components: - Borehole Heat Exchanger (BHE) with good heat transfer efficiency and simple installation, in particular for regions lacking experience in drilling and installation of BHE. - Heat pumps with high COP within the usual temperature limits for heat pump systems and BHE. - Heat pumps with good COP also at elevated heating supply temperatures (retrofit in older heating systems). - Heat pumps with high COP at elevated evaporation temperatures, e.g. from warm groundwater, thermal springs, etc. Within the second project phase that started end of 2006 the components will be tested and demonstrated in some pilot sites in Greece, Austria, and Portugal. The interim results achieved in phase 1 have been presented at an international workshop organised by GtV and EGEC in Brussels in May 2006. The presentations of the workshop are for download at http://www.groundhit.eu .