Oilon’s heat pump exper­tise rec­og­nized as best in class in Europe

Energy tech­nol­ogy company Oilon and Helen, One of Finland’s largest energy groups, have received the esteemed Heat Pump Award in the Decar­Build­ing series for their jointly-​developed heat pump solu­tion. Granted by the Euro­pean Heat Pump Asso­ci­a­tion (EHPA) since 2011, the award serves to rec­og­nize the most inno­v­a­tive and energy-​efficient heat pump projects in the con­ti­nent. The award cer­e­mony took place in Brus­sels in October 2022.

The award-​winning project involved a heating and cooling solu­tion for a new apart­ment build­ing. Com­pleted in 2021, the system uti­lizes the build­ing’s waste heat in various ways. The build­ing, which is located in Helsinki’s Postipuisto dis­trict, has a total of 113 apart­ments as well as a grocery store.

The beating heart of the system is a high-​capacity heat pump. Besides ground source heating, the unit can utilize waste heat from the build­ing’s waste water and apart­ment cooling as well as the grocery store’s refrig­er­a­tion equip­ment. The recy­cled energy is used for heating the build­ing, pro­duc­ing domes­tic hot water, and, in the summer months, for apart­ment cooling. Dis­trict heating is used for backup in case there is a fault and to provide sup­ple­men­tary heating during the coldest days of winter. On days when the build­ing gen­er­ates more heating than it con­sumes, the surplus heat can be sold as dis­trict heating and chan­neled into Helen’s dis­trict heating network.

Recy­cling makes sense even in energy pro­duc­tion

Devel­oped jointly by Oilon and Helen based on the prin­ci­ples of cir­cu­lar economy, the new hybrid solu­tion sets a new stan­dard for the energy effi­ciency and envi­ron­men­tal impact of new build­ings. The solu­tion is the result of long-​term product devel­op­ment between the part­ners, with a unified focus on heat pump tech­nol­ogy and waste heat recov­ery. The most inno­v­a­tive aspect of the system is that dif­fer­ent heat sources can be uti­lized in dif­fer­ent com­bi­na­tions at dif­fer­ent times of the year, result­ing in optimal per­for­mance and min­i­miz­ing the build­ing’s carbon foot­print. This is made pos­si­ble by an Oilon Chill­Heat heat pump, which can adjust its output intel­li­gently from very low levels to maximum capac­ity within a wide range of tem­per­a­tures.

The adop­tion of bidi­rec­tional energy pro­duc­tion and con­sump­tion is part of the trend that drives build­ing heating and cooling towards improved sus­tain­abil­ity. Oilon’s heat pumps play a key part in this devel­op­ment: they allow com­pa­nies and prop­erty owners to utilize renew­able energy sources and waste heat. Addi­tion­ally, they are an excel­lent fit for smart net­works and electricity-​based energy pro­duc­tion.

Excel­lent expe­ri­ences from the first year of oper­a­tion

Antti Lesk­i­nen, who serves as the project lead for Helen, describes the Postipuisto pilot project as a won­der­ful and inter­est­ing yet chal­leng­ing under­tak­ing. The success of the project is based on careful plan­ning. The com­pa­nies have a long history of shared inno­va­tion in waste heat recov­ery, which served as solid ground­work. In Helsinki, for example, Helen extracts heat from waste water at the Katri Vala heat pump plant, the largest of its kind in the world.

“There were no major issues with the Postipuisto system in its first year of oper­a­tion. We kept a close eye on energy streams and system oper­a­tion and fine-​tuned the system along the way, exactly as planned,” Lesk­i­nen says.

Two energy sources rose above the others: con­den­sa­tion heat from the grocery store and ground source heating. Addi­tion­ally, the system recov­ered con­sid­er­able amounts of energy from waste­water and apart­ment cooling. In summer, the heat pump trans­fers surplus heat to bore­holes for storage. In the coldest days of 2022, dis­trict heating was used to even out peaks in power con­sump­tion. Ver­sa­tile, flex­i­ble, and respon­sive energy use creates new oppor­tu­ni­ties for housing con­struc­tion in the future.

“For Helen, Oilon is a long-​standing and reli­able heat pump partner. They have deep under­stand­ing of the field, which is evident in the quality of their prod­ucts and, for example, the way they imple­mented the automa­tion system for this complex system,” Antti Lesk­i­nen says.    

Annual emis­sion reduc­tion: 137 t CO2

Postipuisto apart­ment build­ing (Rul­lakkokatu 1, Helsinki). The reduc­tion in carbon dioxide emis­sions from heating, domes­tic hot water and cooling based on actual con­sump­tion com­pared to typical emis­sions for 2021 declared by Helen.

Tech­ni­cal data: Energy solu­tion used in the Postipuisto apart­ment build­ing (Rul­lakkokatu 1, Helsinki)

Heat sources: Ground source heating, waste water, con­den­sa­tion heat from a grocery store’s refrig­er­a­tion equip­ment, apart­ment cooling. Dis­trict heating as a sec­ondary and backup heat source. Dis­trict heating evens out energy peaks in the coldest days and accounts for approx­i­mately 1/3 of the build­ing’s annual heating.

Heat sink: Heating, domes­tic hot water, and the local dis­trict heating network.

Cooling sources: Domes­tic hot water pro­duc­tion and bore­holes for ground source heating.

Cooling sink: Apart­ment and space cooling.

Cooling capac­ity: 100 kW (7/12 °C and 40/80 °C), COPtot 4.9.

Heating capac­ity: (ground source heating) 115 kW (0/3 °C and 30/55 °C), COPh 3.2.

Energy class: Class A build­ing, annual con­sump­tion 9500 mq < 75 kWh/m².

The system’s 16 ground source heat pump bore­holes are used for thermal storage.

In summer months, solar panels provide a portion of the elec­tric­ity used by the build­ing’s systems.

The system’s 16 ground source heat pump bore­holes are used for thermal storage.

In summer months, solar panels provide a portion of the elec­tric­ity used by the build­ing’s systems.

Learn more about Oilon heat pumps here.