With three ground-source heat pumps on the roof and 786 solar panels, De Pampert is showing a sustainable alternative
Translated by Thomas Ansell
On the roof of De Swaneburg building at De Pampert sports complex in Coevorden, three huge ground-source heat pumps have just been added. With the new pumps, the leadership group at De Pampert hope to have taken another step towards becoming gas-free by the end of the year. As reported by the Dagblad van het Noorden.
Project Leader Anton Beekman says that any building that aims to go gas-free will use more electricity, and as a result 786 solar panels were placed at the complex last year. “They make up about 70 percent of the electricity that we use, but that electricity isn’t always there when we need it. We’re also buying more electricity in through a green energy company”, says Beekman.
If the gas connections for the complex are definitively cut off at the end of the year then the entire complex will be a zero-CO2 building. The swimming pool at De Pampert will now be heated thanks to the ground-source pumps, which are part of a closed system that stretches 140 metres underground. Water that is warmed by the sun in the summer is stored underground, too, so that it can be pumped in to make sure that the pool is nice to swim in even during the coldest Dutch winters.
The total project cost about half a million euros: the Gemeente Coevorden and Province of Drenthe put in around 300,000 euros of funding between them, whilst the rest was borrowed.
Image via Angelika Gruber via Pixabay
