Large-scale heat pumps: Uptake and performance modelling of market-available devices

Mateo Jesper, Florian Schlosser, Felix Pag, Timothy Gordon Walmsley, Bastian Schmitt and Klaus Vajen

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2021, vol. 137, issue C

Abstract: Heat pumps powered by renewable electricity have a significant potential to become a critical technology to disruptively decarbonize industry. An essential step towards this goal is the development of an accurate understanding and model of how heat pumps in large-scale implementations perform in terms of economics, energy, and the environment. In this study, the influence of system design and operating conditions on the coefficient of performance (COP) of large-scale (>50 kWth) electric driven mechanical compression heat pumps is reviewed. The review underscores the knowledge gap on the capabilities of large-scale heat pumps, especially the lack of simple mathematical COP-models based on real-world data. Developing and transferring a reliable COP-model and a comprehensive overview on capabilities of market available heat pumps to academics and practitioners (e.g. research engineers, energy-managers and consultants) can close this knowledge gap. Therefore, this study assembles a comprehensive dataset for the system configuration and performance of 33 large-scale heat pumps from 11 different manufacturers and addresses three main objectives: (1) Classifying and evaluating the capabilities of market available heat pumps. (2) Modelling the correlation between the COP and the operating conditions. (3) Developing an economic and ecological evaluation method for a heat pump project. Applying the developed models to accurately assess real-world performance and build a sound business case for large-scale heat pumps has the potential to accelerate the uptake of renewable energy and help improve overall environmental sustainability.

Keywords: Heat pump; High temperature; COP; Temperature lift; State of technology; Feasibility assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2020.110646

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