Key Project Details
Installation Date - January 2019
Property Type - Student Accommodation
Heat Pump Type - Ground Source
Product Installed - 2x IVT Greenline HE E14 in Cascade
Design Scope - Space Heating Only
Commercial Ground Source Heat Pump system, with two units operating in cascade to provide space heating to a student accommodation block in Poole.
Modern Student Living
This new student accommodation block in Poole is no ordinary student accommodation. Comprising 14 apartments in total, at an early stage our clients enquired about the suitability to ground source heat pumps on the project.
The total space heating load for the project totalled just under 25kW. The developers wanted a stand-alone heat pump solution without any input from traditional fossil fuel back-ups. This would then enable all of the space heating for the entire complex to be powered by low-carbon ground source heating. Alto Energy were asked to design, supply and commission a solution which would operate as a central plant, feeding common underfloor heating loops throughout the property.
THE TECHNICAL SOLUTION
Alto Energy specified 2x IVT Greenline HE E14 ground source heat pumps operating in cascade, feeding into a 300L buffer tank. The heat pump was fed by a ground loop array designed by Alto Energy and comprising 8x 70m 32mm HDPE borehole loops drilled into sandstone. This ground source heat pump system has sufficient capacity to provide all of the space heating for the complex.
The IVT Bosch controller is ready out-of-the-box to operate in cascade – all that is required is a cambus cable between the two heat pumps, and the controls do the rest! Furthermore, the controls automatically load-shares between the two heat pumps, making sure that the run hours between the two are shared equally. This plug-and-play cascade ability is an excellent feature of the IVT Greenline range, enabling the product group to cover heat loads up to 34kW on the same mechanical system. The heat pumps come fitted with in-built electric back-up, so in the rare event that there is a problem with the heat pumps, there is capacity available to provide back-up heating whilst a repair is completed.
Non-domestic renewable heat incentive
The ground source heat pump system on this project is eligible for the non-domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (“RHI”). Alto Energy specified and supplied the relevant heat meter required to comply with the RHI regulations. This means that the owners of the apartment block will receive a grant payment from the Government every year for the next 20 years.