Dutch energy supplier Eneco and regional water authority Hoogheemraadschap De Stichtse Rijnlanden (HDSR) have switched on the largest heat pump in the the Netherlands in the city of Utrecht.
The heat pump is on the grounds 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 the winter to over 22 degrees in the summer.”
A heat exchanger extracts heat from the wastewater, and the large heat pump raises the water temperature to up to 75 C for the heating network. An 18-meter-tall heat buffer with an 18-meter diameter ensures a continuous heat supply.
“The system can provide 20,000 homes with sustainable heat annually,” Eneco said. “The collaboration with HDST makes it possible to use heat in a circular way. We reuse the heat that people use at home to provide households with new heat and hot water in the home itself.”
The company did not reveal any additional technical details about the system.
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