Just before the switch from 2020 to 2021 was made, DuCoop, the Energy Service Company that provides its services to De Nieuwe Dokken (Gent, Belgium) took into operation its 120kW heat pump. The device will use the excess heat from the treated wastewater of the residents to heat up the district heating network that is providing heat to the buildings on site, including a kindergarten, a sports facility, an office building and currently around 90 private homes.
In the coming months, the heat pump operation will be optimised, and DuCoop will start investigating if the heat provided in such a way can also be used to ’charge’ the district heating network, converting electric energy to thermal energy at moments where electricity is cheap, and use the heat at a later point in time. To help with this optimisation, DuCoop makes use of an Energy Management System that is aimed at aligning not only the heat pump and the district heating network, but also all the other assets on site (solar panels, battery storage…), to provide the most efficient renewable energy solution possible.
