As it nears its first anniversary in August, Danish OEM Fenagy is building its first 300kW (85.3TR) CO2 (R744) heat pump – the smallest in its range – for district heating, and has orders for 1.2MW (341.2TR) CO2 heat pump from four district heating plants in Denmark, according to CEO Kim Christensen,
Christensen provided a review of Fenagy’s first year in operation in a recent LinkedIn video, taken at Fenagy’s new warehouse in Aarhus, Denmark.
Fenagy’s specialty is CO2 systems in industrial refrigeration and district heating, taking the technology beyond its foothold in food retailing. Its heat pumps range from 300kW to 2MW (568.7TR). Swedish wholesaler Beijer Ref, which made in investment in Fenagy last year, has increased its investment to just above 50% ownership, Fenagy announced on July 1.
The 300kW heat pump (model H300), which will be tested at the Danish Technological Institute (DTI) before entering the marketplace, differs from the larger models in two ways, explained Christensen. First, it has a V-shaped evaporator with cold gas defrost, which he called “another way of defrosting.” Second, it uses an expander to leverage expansion energy, whereas the larger heat pumps employ ejectors.
“We hope to find our first customer [for the H300 heat pump] before Christmas,” said Christensen.
In addition to manufacturing 1.2kW heat pumps for the Danish district heating plants (including one operated by Vestervig Fjernvarme), Fenagy is producing them for installation in Norway as well, he noted.
Fenagy is part of a research project started this year at DTI that is developing a “super-efficient and price competitive” CO2 air-source heat pump for district heating companies. The project is also investigating how mixtures of natural refrigerants can be used to reach an even higher efficiency than possible using CO2 alone.
“We believe that electrical heat pumps have a bright future. And we think CO2 is a good choice.”
Kim Christensen, Fenagy
Among the other first-year highlights cited by Christensen was the development of a 600 kW (170.6TR) air-to-water CO2 heat pump, which was tested last year at DTI and installed in January, 2021, at a biomass heating plant in Harlev, Denmark, operated by AffaldVarme Aarhus, a district heating provider.
“We demonstrated that it works very well,” said Christensen, citing in particular the defrost and performance of the evaporators.
The Harlev installation also provided Fenagy an opportunity to show prospective customers – including 200 people from 30 companies – how its heat pumps work.
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