Geneva lake provides one of the most advanced heat pump solutions in Europe

The depth of a lake proves to be decisive for the success of aquathermy projects in Switzerland. Seawater is the source of heat for 1,300 French homes. And the Germans are building a water pump near Mannheim that will probably become the largest on our continent. A selection of the aquathermy projects in Europe that the Aquathermy network gathered to learn from.

Many European Aquatherm projects score a coefficient of Performance (COP) of 4 or higher. This means that it takes 1 kilowatt-hour of electricity to deliver 4 kilowatt-hours of heat in a building. The higher the COP, the more efficient the way of generation.

The research by Netwerk Aquathermie also shows that drinking water is hardly used as a source for aquathermy. Heat and cold are mainly extracted from surface water and wastewater. A difference with the Netherlands is that European projects use aquathermy for the higher temperatures, from 70 degrees.

What are the heat pumps?

The sustainable heating and cooling with energy from water is also called aquathermy. There are three options: thermal energy from surface water (TEO), thermal energy from wastewater (TEA) and thermal energy from drinking water (TED). In the article “Aquathermy: water as a source of heat” we tell more about it.

Aquathermy in Switzerland

In Switzerland, it has been found that the depth of the water source plays a prominent role in aquathermy. The deeper, the more successful the project. The Swiss have built a network at Lake Geneva that extracts heat from water at a depth of 45 meters. The original plan was to supply heat and cold to fifty buildings. However, the project proved so effective that it was extended to the city centre of Geneva and seven surrounding municipalities. By 2035, 350 buildings will be connected to the network.