CASE STUDIES
Dorset oil specialist becomes top renewable energy achiever
D
aikin heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems is delivering a novel, ultra-low-cost comfort solution for a Dorset business that’s firmly committed to renewable energy. The combination of Daikin Altherma heat pumps, VRV IV Heat Recovery air conditioning and VAM ventilation unit operate at virtually no cost because they are powered mostly by rooftop solar panels.
The installation has won the title of South West Renewable Energy Installer of the Year and came in second place for the small scale project of the year. It was shortlisted for Installer of the year in the Renewable Energy Association Awards 2016. The systems serving the offices and vehicle workshop at Anglo American Oil Company’s head office and distribution depot on an industrial estate near Poole were installed before the company moved into the premises over a year ago, and performance figures for the first 12 months are impressive.
Anglo American Oil Company distributes specialist fuels and lubricants for motorsport and also for lightweight two-stroke engines, typically found in forestry and horticultural equipment. Managing Director Anders Hildebrand wanted the premises to be heated and cooled as comfortably, efficiently and in as environmentally friendly a way as possible – without sacrificing any of the qualities expected in a contemporary new-build project.
He says: “I wanted a solution that would create a working environment promoting high productivity levels, so temperature control and air quality were key. I also wanted to make maximum use of the Renewable Heat Incentive.” From personal experience in Scandinavia
he wanted underfloor heating, unusual in UK commercial steel-framed buildings. He also wanted to avoid any requirement for a mains gas connection.
He called in renewables specialist and Daikin Key Partner H2ecO, whose Technical director Mike Stephenson worked with the Daikin design team to develop the solution. A former marine biologist who switched careers in favour of renewable power before moving into renewable heating, Mike Stephenson is now a Daikin Key installer and service partner.
He says: “We decided to make it an all-Daikin installation to ensure compatibility, but there was no off-the-shelf solution to achieve what was required.
“The 342m2 office component, over two floors, and the adjoining 189m2 workshop have
underfloor heating, with two RHI-eligible 16kW Daikin Altherma Low Temperature heat pumps as the heat source. The UFH piping is embedded in conventional screed in the offices, and in the concrete slab of the workshop. Once the slab is heated, there is surprisingly little impact on the air temperature when the roller shutter door is opened to move vehicles in or out.” The heat pump also provides domestic hot water. Heat is transferred to the UFH and the coil of the DHW cylinder via a Hydrobox in the plant room.
Mike Stephenson says: “The system is designed so that the UFH provides more than 98% of the facility’s heating demand – enabling the client to claim RHI payments for most of the space heating and DHW.
“An 8hp Daikin VRV IV Heat Recovery system provides cooling in the offices, as well as
quick-response heating when needed, such as after Anglo American Oil Company’s Christmas shutdown. The system delivers via Daikin FXFQ-A Roundflow cassettes and FXZQ-A 600 square fully flat cassettes. The VRV system could, in fact, have met all the space heating requirement, but as heat recovery systems are currently not eligible for the RHI scheme, it did not fit the brief.” The VRV system is interlocked to prevent it from ‘fighting’ the UFH system. A VAM Heat Recovery ventilation unit provides fresh air throughout the offices, with minimal impact on indoor air temperatures. All the systems are controlled through a Daikin i-Touch Manager. Mr Stephenson added: “To offset as much of the electrical demand as possible, we also installed a 30kWp solar PV array.” In the first year, the solar array produced 30,000kWh of electricity. In the offices, heating energy consumption for space heating and DHW was 23,990kWh against electricity consumption of 6,041kWh – equating to a coefficient of performance of 3.97 and a ‘normal’ electricity cost of 2.5p/kWh of heat energy produced. “The renewable element of the heat produced is about 75%,” says Mike Stephenson. “At the non- domestic RHI rate of 2.57p/kWh, heating would cost Anglo American Oil Company just 0.6p/kWh for 20 years if they were buying electricity from the grid.”
In the workshop, heating energy consumption was 17,187kWh against electricity consumption of 4,192kWh – equating to a CoP of 4.01. “With PV generation taken into consideration, Anglo American Oil Company is effectively running its heating systems in the office and workshop at no cost. As the systems are consuming only 10,200kWh of the 30,000kWh produced, electricity costs over the whole site are significantly reduced,” he says. One quirk of the installation is that the plant room, with Hydrobox, DHW cylinder, UFH manifolds and inverters, also houses the company’s servers.
To stop this area overheating, a Daikin multi split air conditioning system is installed. It has a 3.5kW wall mounted inverter fan coil unit indoors, with a dedicated condensing unit outdoors, next to the Daikin Altherma heat pump to achieve heat recovery.
58 October 2017
www.acr-news.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
