SYNECOTEC project wins Austrian environmental award

SYNECOTEC project wins Austrian environmental award

The heat recovery system of the Salzburg Regional Hospitals, which went into operation in February 2022, won the Energy Globe Award in June 2023, one of the world's most prestigious environmental awards with the intention of presenting particularly innovative and sustainable projects to a broad public.

As a key member of IHNES (Interregional Hospital Network for Energy Sustainability), an interregional network of hospital operators, research institutions and engineering firms with the aim of institutionalising energy efficiency and energy management in the healthcare sector, the idea and conceptual design of the heat recovery project came from SYNECOTEC GmbH, Member of Elevion Group. The planning and implementation of the project was undertaken by Ingenieurbüro Moser & Partner (MPI).

Until the project was realised, the waste heat from the refrigeration machines in the largest building of the Salzburg Provincial Clinics was not used and was discharged into the environment via the recoolers on the roof. At the same time as the cooling demand, there was a heat demand for hot water production and seasonally for heating. The heat was covered by the district heating connection. The district heating supplier fed approx. 70% of the demand into the network by burning fossil fuels.

As a solution, a heat recovery system was built in the basement of the provincial hospital. The heat source is the waste heat from the refrigeration machines, which is fed via heat exchangers to the heat pumps connected in parallel. These then heat hot water to 69°C, which is then used to heat drinking water and for the heating system. The system supplies two million kilowatt hours (kWh) per year and saves almost half of the district heating energy. The resulting annual CO2 saving is more than 300 tonnes per year. The solution with heat pumps makes it possible to access climate-neutral electricity as primary energy and therefore achieve an indirect saving of fossil fuels.

The consulting and service company SYNECOTEC GmbH from Tyrol/Austria has made it its mission to turn clean and sustainable solutions for corporate energy use into reality. To make this vision a reality, SYNECOTEC, Member of Elevion Group relies on photovoltaic systems and heat pumps as well as supporting measures for more efficient use of the required energy flows in operations.