Ice storage & heat pump

The town of Lichtenau near Paderborn has set ambitious goals for climate protection. The core is the climate campus at Lichtenau High school  with a comprehensive energy renovation.  With the transition to renewable energy supply the renewal of the outer shell, the annual CO2 emissions are to be reduced by around 250 tonnes.

With the installation of the large ice storage tank in October 2021, the town has moved one step closer to this goal. The installation was carried out by the company caldoa GmbH and wassupported by Paderborn-based H. Beckmann GmbH, a regional specialist for regenerative heating and energy technology. Beckmann, in turn, commissioned goodmen energy GmbH to plan the heating and cooling system, including its control.

 Latent heat storage system uses the thermal energy during the phase transition from liquid to solid, i.e. when the water freezes into ice. During this process, the so-called heat of crystallization is released and this is considerable in the case of water.It is about the same as cooling water from 80 degrees to 0 degrees and  ensuring comparatively smaller storage volumes. A heat pump use this energy for heating and hot water production.

Thus, the ice storage can be considered as a (cold) energy source storage that absorbs excess thermal energy from the building or the environment and returns it to the building when needed - either for heating or cooling.