Heat pump control system wins BCIA award
12th September 2021
UK: The integrated control of three legacy heating and cooling systems and a closed-loop water-source heat pump system has been recognised at the BCIA awards.
The complex BMS retrofit by independent BMS and energy solution provider BGES Group won the Technical Innovation of the Year at Thursday night’s Building Controls Industry Association (BCIA) awards.
The heating and cooling system at the Oxfordshire Golf Hotel and Spa was designed and retrofitted by Welwyn-Garden-City-based Geyser Thermal Energy. The resort’s old oil-fired boilers and chiller have been replaced with a low-energy heat pump system, linked to a 250kW solar array installed onsite. The heat pumps uses water from the golf course lake.
The upgraded BMS, which was designed and installed by BGES Group, provides intelligent monitoring and control of plant and has contributed a reduction in energy input demand from 1,410kW to below 100kW.
Prior to the upgrade, there were three different independent heating and cooling systems with a non-working BMS. BGES Group upgraded the controls on the existing BMS plant and designed a new panel to control the new heat pumps; tying them in with existing boiler plant to maximise the efficiency of the heat pumps.
The user-friendly front end of the BMS helps resort staff to understand how the system works, and is crucial to understanding what the loads are in the pool, spa and air conditioning. According to BGES, monitoring and control is key to the project’s success as it will allow for ongoing tweaking to drive further output and efficiency improvements.
