"AGO Calora" high-temperature heat pump – a key technology for the energy transition

Kulmbach, 8 July 2021:

Efficient large-scale heat pumps powered by electricity generated from renewable sources represent a promising solution for the decarbonisation of industrial and municipal heat supply. In 2018, approximately 20 per cent of Germany’s total final energy demand was used for process heat, with a similar proportion used for building heating. Most of this heat is currently still generated by burning fossil fuels.

Due to the phase-out of coal-fired power generation, over 13 GW of thermal capacity for supplying heat to district heating networks will be lost by 2038 and must be replaced in a climate-neutral manner. Due to a lack of natural heat resources (geothermal and solar thermal) in most regions of Germany and the limited expansion potential of biogas and biomass plants, a large proportion of this will have to be covered in future by large-scale and industrial heat pumps.

The AGO Calora is the world’s first high-temperature heat pump capable of providing heat at temperatures of up to 140°C on an industrial scale of 0.5–10 MW, using exclusively the natural working fluids ammonia and water. The heat pump was developed by AGO GmbH Energie + Anlagen in cooperation with Stadtwerke Neuburg a.d. Donau as part of a research project funded by the BMWi with public funds. The heat pump will enable Stadtwerke Neuburg a.d. Donau to operate the CHP plant, which has previously been used mainly during the winter months, all year round. Until now, the engine cooling heat from the CHP plant, which is generated at around 80°C, had sufficient utilisation potential only during the winter months to meet the heating requirements of the barracks and Audi. With the help of the new heat pump, this approx. 1 MW of low-temperature heat is now raised to a higher hot water temperature level of 120 °C to a maximum of 140 °C and fed into the hot water network to supply the malting plant. The heat pump thus enables year-round operation of the CHP unit, which now provides electricity and high-temperature heat significantly more efficiently than the separate generation of electricity and high-temperature heat.
AGO Calora heat pumps can be used across a wide range of temperatures and capacities and are therefore suitable for a variety of different applications in heat recovery as well as industrial and municipal heat generation.

Further information at: AGO Calora