In October, APG will be replacing a large part of the existing gas boilers with heat pumps at the Heerlen building. This action, which has been thoroughly prepared over the past two years, will reduce gas consumption by over 85 percent. With this, APG is taking an important step towards climate-neutral operations by 2030.
Two years ago, APG expressed its ambition to heat/cool the Heerlen building completely without natural gas. However, this proved to be easier said than done, Portfolio Manager Marga Petridean of Facility Services acknowledges. Over the past two years, she and systems partner Equans have been busy preparing for the step that will be taken definitively in October. From then on, APG will largely heat and cool the building using electricity instead of gas.
“Getting completely off natural gas is not yet possible. This is because on very cold days, using only heat pumps would cause us to exceed the contracted peak electrical capacity. Just changing the contract with the grid operator and increasing the peak capacity is not an option because of a structural shortage of transport capacity, even in South Limburg”, says Petridean.
Gas boilers as backup
It means APG will say goodbye to a significant portion of its gas boilers in October and switch to three heat pumps from Trane Nederland. Petridean: “We currently consume an average of 260,000 cubic meters of gas annually; that’s going to drop by at least 85 percent. And the additional electricity consumed by the heat pumps will be generated in a sustainable way.
During the first year after the installation of the new system, Equans will optimally adjust the heat pumps to the heating and cooling demands in the building. Petridean: “In the years after that, we will look at how we can further reduce any gas consumption. Perhaps we will save not 85, but 95 percent. Then we only need to do 5 percent differently to truly achieve zero gas consumption in the building. Because, ultimately, that is what we want to achieve.”