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At Centrum Pile’s newest office building, Energy Machines Control enables thermal energy stored within concrete foundation piles - the company’s own “energy piles” - to heat and cool the premises.
Building use: Office and energy pile showcase facility
Location: Kollanda, Sweden
Year built: 2021
*Note: Energy and CO2 reductions metrics listed above are in comparison to district heating and cooling.
Year of installation: 2021
New or retrofit: New
Energy central: Energy Machines EMQ01 heat pump
Energy storage: PTES (pile thermal energy storage) with 48 x Centrum Pile energy piles
COP: 3.0
Nearly all larger buildings in the coastal regions of Scandinavia are standing on massive precast concrete piles dug deep into the ground. This is necessary because of the soft, clay soil our cities rest on. Centrum Pile (in Denmark, Centrum Pæle) has developed a way to turn these carbon-packed piles into green “energy piles” that store and transport geothermal energy to heat and cool buildings.
During the winter, energy piles produce heat through the circulation of liquid between 8-10°C. This liquid is fed into a heat pump that generates temperatures that are warm enough to heat and provide hot domestic water to the building.
In the hot summer months, this process is reversed. The liquid, which is still between 8-10°C, will be used to pull the heat out of the building. This heat is subsequently brought back into the ground. In this way, the energy piles work much like a chiller, but using only a fraction of the electricity that would otherwise be needed to run a modern chiller. The energy poles cool passively by simply circulating the cool liquid through the ventilation system.
Click here to view a short film about Centrum Pile's energy pile technology
Centrum Pile's new headquarter building in Kollanda, Sweden lies adjacent to their existing energy pile factory. Together, the properties are utilized as a showcase facility for the company's energy piles and integrated PTES (pile thermal energy storage) system in collaboration with Energy Machines.
The energy system includes 48 precast concrete energy piles as energy storage beneath the ground. The stored energy is transported up into the building via an Energy Machines EMQ01 heat pump at the heart of the energy central.
Integration of the energy pile and heat pump technologies is made possible with Energy Machines Control. The control platform for continuous monitoring and optimization is easily accessed via Energy Machines Cloud SCADA/HMI/BEMS software.
Energy Machines Cloud collects real-time data on the performance of the energy pile system, which is easily accessible via a user-friendly interactive dashboard. The Cloud data may be used to then fine-tune the system and ensure optimal performance efficiency throughout the year.
The dashboard is on display in the entrance of the office building beside the energy central and also accessible remotely.
Click here to view and interact with Energy Machines' live dashboard at Centrum Pile
Following the successful commissioning, Centrum Pile AB and Energy Machines plan to incorporate the factory into the integrated PTES system. Doing so will lead to increased efficiency of the heat pump and reduced total operational CO2 footprint.
