Ground-Med

The GROUND-MED project demonstrates the next generation of geothermal heat pump (GSHP) systems for heating and cooling in 8 demonstration sites of South Europe. A measured seasonal performance (SPF) higher than 5.0 will be demonstrated. As the SPF is determined not only by the heat pump unit, but by its operating conditions imposed by both the ground heat exchanger and the heating/cooling system of the building, integrated GSHP systems incorporating the following technological solutions will be developed, designed, constructed, installed, monitored and evaluated: prototype water source heat pumps of improved seasonal efficiency; key technologies include the next generation of compressors, heat exchangers and automation; borehole heat exchangers and heating/cooling systems operating with minimum temperature difference between them, which also follows the heating/cooling demand from the building; design aspects, thermal storage and system controls are important; minimum power consumption to auxiliary system components; key parts are the fan-coil and air-handling units.