System 1 - Green building
The electricity and heat consumption for the RINGEN Research Centre building in Litoměřice will be fully supplied by System 1 renewable sources. For this building, a system consisting of photovoltaic panels and battery storage, a ground-to-water heat pump for heating and cooling combined with shallow underground storage for heat and cold will be built. The underground storage will consist of four 100 m deep boreholes operated at a temperature level of 5 - 15 °C. System 1 will also include a fuel cell, using hydrogen from an accumulator to produce heat and electricity in winter when the photovoltaic panels will not supply enough electricity. This will link System 1 to System 2, whose main purpose is to produce green hydrogen.
- Photovoltaic panel PV
- Battery storage BAT
- Ground source heat pump HP
- Fuel cell FC
- Shallow well field to a depth of 100 m WELL 100
- Pressure storage of hydrogen H2
Photovoltaic panel PV converts sunlight into electricity. Its basic functional element is a photovoltaic cell. The current is proportional to the area of the cell, its efficiency and the intensity of the sun's radiation. For a particular cell, it depends in part on the spectrum of the incident sunlight, which varies throughout the day and year. A photovoltaic panel is usually composed of a number of cells connected in series. Photovoltaic panels commonly available on the market can be divided into crystalline and thin-film.
Battery storage BAT is a system that allows excess electricity to be stored for later use. This energy can then be used at times when electricity is not available or has a significantly higher cost. There are different types of batteries, with LiFePO4 technology being the most commonly used today.
Ground source heat pump HP removes heat from the ground and converts it to a higher temperature level for heating and hot water. The transfer of heat to a higher temperature level is made possible by compressing the vapours of the working substance (refrigerant) drawn from the evaporator by the compressor. By this process the vapours heat up and then condense at a usable temperature. This is using the same mechanism as a compressor refrigerator.
Fuel cell FC is an electrochemical device that converts the chemical energy of hydrogen into electrical and thermal energy. The basic element of a fuel cell is two electrodes separated by a membrane or electrolyte. Hydrogen is supplied to the negative electrode and oxygen to the positive electrode.
Field of shallow wells up to a depth of 100 m WELL 100 uses temperatures around 12°C mainly to ensure energy self-sufficiency of the building. In this drilling field, there will be no interseasonal storage of thermal energy, but mainly the use of the underground in a similar way as in classic land-water systems. These wells will reach aquifer Mesozoic sedimentary rocks deposited in the Upper Cretaceous sea, mainly sandstones and marls. If the groundwater at this depth flows at a sufficient speed, the boreholes will be particularly effective in the summer for cooling the building.
Pressure storage of hydrogen H2 is used for its seasonal storage. Hydrogen is compressed and stored in specially-designed pressure vessels.
