ENGIE Refrigeration has delivered five thermeco2 high temperature heat pumps to the Osatina Group, one of the leading food producers in Croatia.
The machines, which run on the natural refrigerant CO2 and have a total capacity of five megawatts, will now provide heating for greenhouses.
Prior to this installation the food producer used gas-fired burners to heat five of its 10,000-square-metre greenhouses in the area around Osijek. But the Osatina Group decided to look for a more eco-friendly solution – and found that ENGIE Refrigeration offered the best concept.
Five HHR 1000 type thermeco2 high-temperature heat pumps with a total capacity of five megawatts are now operating on site.
They will provide the right temperature for a total area of 50,000 square metres – roughly the size of ten European football fields – growing mainly tomatoes, cucumbers and mushrooms.
Upon delivery of the machines, Jochen Hornung, CEO of ENGIE Refrigeration, said the heat pumps are an ecologically sustainable alternative to fossil-fuelled burners.
“Our thermeco2 high-temperature heat pumps will promote decarbonisation and advance sustainable food production at the Osatina Group,” he said.
The project was completed by the ENGIE team in collaboration with the Zenteh consultancy from Slovenia.
The flow temperature is set at 85 degrees Celsius and the return temperature at 40 degrees Celsius.
From a technical perspective, this wide spread between chilled water (13/8 degrees Celsius and 12/6 degrees Celsius) and hot water can only be achieved in one stage by using CO2 as the refrigerant.
In comparison, two-stage solutions, for example those using NH3 as the refrigerant, are considerably less efficient – which ultimately persuaded the Osatina Group to choose ENGIE Refrigeration.
This is because thermeco2 high-temperature heat pumps utilise the natural refrigerant CO2 and combine high energy efficiency with excellent COP values.
In addition, the thermeco2 will generate the required hot water with the help of ambient heat from the ground, which makes the project even more sustainable.