A plant of equipment converting energy of the Earth into heat will be constructed in Tomsk

According to information provided by Alexander Granin, Director of Commerce, Tomsk "Ecoclimat" company started construction of a plant for manufacture of heat pumps that convert energy of Earth into heat.

"The plant construction has just started. This year we laid the foundation, drilled a well for heat exchangers. Next year we will be erecting the building. I think that by the end of 2015 we will complete the construction and will start production. I think it is too early to speak about scope of production as demand for pumps is growing and it is difficult to evaluate it in advance", added he.

An installation that will be produced in Tomsk is a heat exchanger buried in the ground and a heat pump that consists of a condenser, compressor and evaporator. Gas (freon) pumped into the heat exchanger will be heated by the Earth energy and forwarded to the compressor where gas temperature due to compression will grow up to 90-100 degrees. This energy can be used both for space and for water heating.

"The idea of a heat pump is not new, many companies manufacture it, but we guessed how to perfect it. Our pump is cheaper than that of the competitors. <...> A unique controller and software are incorporated into the system. We have developed them ourselves", explained Granin.

Moreover, Tomsk heat pumps have a specific cooling system. "Other manufacturer use water units for this purpose, but they are expensive and dimensional. We developed a freon-based system. It has not practically increased the cost of the unit", said he. - Another peculiarity of the unit is availability of two compressors in the pump rather than one.

"Therefore, we can control capacity of the unit, and when heat supply should be low, for example in the inter-season period, we just disconnect one of them.  Thus we reduce cost of one kilowatt. By the way, currently it is 40 kopecks at operation of two compressors. Compare: 1 kilowatt of wood fire heating costs 75 kopecks", said he.

Compressors are currently procures in Czechia. In Tomsk the equipment is just assembled. After the plant commissioning the entire production chain will be available in Tomsk.

Systems manufactured by Tomsk company have already been installed at a number of houses and social facilities both in Tomsk region and in other regions of the country. "Quite recently such a pump was installed at a school in Kandinka settlement and we plan to introduce them into social facilities constructed", summed he up.

According to Leonid Reznikov, Vice-Governor of Tomsk region on Industrial Policy, demand for such equipment is high, including from the standpoint of import substitution.

"Heat pumps can be used at the fields, in the field campuses e.g., by forestry people who put their wagon houses far from the transmission networks. To say nothing about common consumers of local heat generation and a large number of social facilities", explained Reznikov.

He added that Tomsk region Administration made calculations and found out that heat pumps are more efficient than wood waste-fired boilers. "From the standpoint of energy efficiency it is not a step forward, it's a jump forward".

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• November
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