Star heat pump in UK first

UK: Star Refrigeration subsidiary Star Renewable Energy has been awarded funding to develop the UK’s first district heating scheme using a water source heat pump (WSHP).

The project will use a Star 2.5MW water source Neatpump on the Clyde in Glasgow. It is expected to be deployed by September 2018 and supply heat to a number of public buildings, and four tower blocks in New Gorbals.

The £3.5m industrial sized water source heat pump draws energy from the chilly waters of the Clyde in Glasgow and boost it to 80ºC.

Star’s Neatpump was included in an award-winning district heating project in Norway in 2011. The 13MW ammonia district heat pump provides hot water at up to 90ºC for the buildings of the city of Drammen, a community near the capital city of Oslo with 63,000 people.

Dave Pearson, director of Star Renewable Energy said, “It has been a long time since we proved in Drammen that heat can be delivered at high temperatures from sources such as rivers without using HFCs. It is frustrating that even with the support of the RHI, businesses have opted for burning gas in novel ways even when it is abundantly clear that the carbon footprint and exhaust emissions of gas CHP are not compatible with a low carbon society. This is in part due to a lack of knowledge and in part economic, as gas is cheap. Now businesses can have cheap heat that is lower carbon as well and without NOx emissions. Our message is “Don’t be scared of renewable heat. It creates jobs and supports the environmental goals without costing the Earth.”

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