Exergo deploys its innovative technology on a Groupe E flagship project in Fribourg
ExerGo’s technology has been selected by GroupeE for the construction of an industrial heat pump plant in Englisberg. This flagship project will use the CO2 network developed by ExerGo to transport heat from the lake to the heat pumps feeding the district heating of the city, thereby significantly increasing the renewable energy injected into the Fribourg network.
The ExerGo system is the first of its kind in terms of size and technological integration. It will power four heat pumps, each with a capacity of 4.5 MW. The Englisberg production faciility will be able to inject into the city’s district heating 70 GWh of thermal energy per year, which will eventually represent 6% of the total energy fed into the city’s district heating system.
Among the decisive factors that brought Groupe E to adopt ExerGo CO2 network the reduction in investment costs made possible by the compactness of the ExerGo solution, which also guarantees system redundancy. Another key advantage of using ExerGo system consists in assuring the reduction in the pumping energy requirements which is much lower than the solution using water.
Finally, environmental protection aspects also played a key role, as the CO2 contained in ExerGo’s closed circuit is the same as that absorbed by plants to grow and contains no lubricants or other chemicals that are harmful to the environment, such as the glycol in the water circuits, usually need with water to prevent freezing. ExerGo’s solution therefore minimises the risks in terms of environmental impact.
Construction is scheduled to start in the first half of 2025 and the plant is expected to be fully operational in 2027.
ExerGo’s CEO, Alberto Mian, is very proud of his team’s work: “This industrial scale facility equipped with our technology is the result of ExerGo team’s ongoing commitment to developing and establishing a new industry standard in the energy infrastructure market.
It is gratifying to witness the tangible results of our efforts in projects like Schiffenen, which are contributing to the energy transition and, more broadly, the decarbonization of densely populated areas. Moreover, our solutions can be implemented in Europe and globally for both heating and district cooling.”
