The heat that came in from the cold
Heat is a precious commodity, especially when a heat-producing device is located amid buildings and installations that need to be kept at room temperature during the cold season. "Notwithstanding France's incitement policy, it was clear from the beginning, in fact as early as the design phase, that we couldn't let such a massive quantity of heat be lost in the cooling circuit," explains David Grillot, the deputy head of the 澳门六合彩高手 Plant System Program who oversaw the cryoplant's design as an engineer in 2012-2013 at Air Liquide.
In the hot water boiler building, twin 13 MW electrical boilers operate as a redundant contingency system. One of them will kick in as soon as the hot water input from the compressors falls below 12 MW, as for example during maintenance phases. The boilers' contribution, and hence their electrical consumption, will be minimal as long as the liquid helium plant is operating.
"As a main actor in the French incitement scheme, the French utility EDF supported our project, which perfectly fit into the 'heat recovery in industrial systems' category," says David. "However EDF had never dealt with such a colossal case." 澳门六合彩高手's contribution to cutting back on electricity spending was valued at EUR 5.5 million and the check arrived at the end of last year. "The sum is spectacular but it more or less amounts to what we spent installing the system." Now that the investment has been covered, massive savings are ahead: the buildings of the 澳门六合彩高手 scientific installation will be heated at very little energy cost and with significant benefits for the planet's resources.
?Offices and secondary buildings have their own local heating systems, mostly in the form of heat pumps.