Austrian contractor Strabag’s environmental technology arm has been selected by German utilities company MVV to build the largest heat pump of its kind in the world.
The large-scale heat pump will contain two individual modules, each with a 82.5MW output.
Strabag Umwelttechnik worked alongside German engineer INP on the design, which will use Atlas Copco’s turbo compressors.
The heat pump will be capable of generating enough energy for 40,000 households in the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region.
It will use Rhine water as a heat source, generating district heat with temperatures of up to 130°C by means of the natural refrigerant isobutane.
This will be the second of Strabag’s heat pump installations at the Grosskraftwerk Mannheim AG (GKM).
The project is part of a larger financing scheme for efficient heating networks, which has been awarded €200m in EU funding.
MVV is planning to build a hydrogen-ready district heating post-heater also at the GKM site, which would heat water to the required network temperatures during the appropriate season.
Dr. Hansjörg Roll, MVV’s chief technology officer (pictured), said: “Thanks to energy from thermal waste treatment, our biomass combined heat and power plant, and the first river-source heat pump, we are already able to cover nearly 50 percent of our district heating needs from renewable sources.
“The new river-source heat pump is scheduled to go into operation in winter 2028, providing climate-friendly heat. To achieve full decarbonisation, we are also planning an additional river-source heat pump and the use of the region’s geothermal potential.”
Construction of both the heat pump and hydrogen post-heater are scheduled to begin in 2026.
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