Start installation ground-coupled heat exchanger Healthy Ageing Campus

Today, the UMCG and the UG started the installation of a ground-coupled heat exchanger on the Healthy Ageing Campus (HAC) site. A ground-coupled heat exchanger is a sustainable way that utilizes summer heat and winter cold to provide heating and cooling for the buildings of both the UMCG and UG.

A sustainable step
With the construction of this ground-coupled heat exchanger, we are taking an important step towards becoming energy-neutral. A ground-coupled heat exchanger is a sustainable technology that relies on renewable energy. It provides heating and cooling for UMCG and UG buildings without the use of fossil fuels, leading to lower CO2 emissions and benefiting the climate.

The installation of the ground-coupled heat exchanger will enable the UMCG and UG to save approximately 1.2 million cubic meters of natural gas annually, which is comparable to the energy consumption of 1,000 homes.

Watch this video to learn how a ground-coupled heat exchanger operates and to get a glimpse of what a construction site for a ground-coupled heat exchanger installation looks like.

The ground-coupled heat exchanger is being built by three northern contractors. Remborg Bodemenergie is responsible for installing the ground-coupled heat exchanger and drilling the wells, Antea Group is in charge of laying the horizontal pipes, and CroonWolter&Dros is managing the installation technology.

First drilling
Last week, contractor Remborg installed the casing to prepare for drilling the first well. The casing is a protective tube around the borehole that keeps the soil stable and separates groundwater layers. After the casing was in place, the drill bit was inserted into the borehole today to begin drilling for the first well. A total of eight boreholes will be drilled, four for the hot wells and four for the cold wells. One borehole will reach a depth of 120 meters. Today's drilling has already reached 25 meters. 

The first drilling was started by Jan Olthof, construction director of UMCG Bouwt, alongside Pieter van der Wal, operational director of Remborg and Norbert Stuip, project manager at Antea.

A huge scale
The ground-coupled heat exchanger at the northern end of the Healthy Ageing Campus will soon feature four cold sources and four hot sources, making it one of the largest ground-coupled heat exchangers in the Netherlands. The newly constructed Anda Kerkhoven Centre, an educational facility for UMCG and UG, will be the first building linked to this system.

For more information about the ground-coupled heat exchanger on the Healthy Ageing Campus, visit the UMCG Bouwt website.