Star Renewable Energy was established to recognise the growing interest in this area of Star Refrigeration's work.
SRE at this stage is focussed on Heatpumps although other forms of low carbon or alternative energy may be added to the unit. Whilst heatpumps have been known in engineering circles since the late 1800s, market deployment has been limited to situations where "normal" sources of heat were constrained. Switzerland in the 1940s for example had a significant hydroelectricity resource but limited access to fossil fuel so began to deploy heatpumps for building and water heating.
Today in Northern Europe heating accounts for around 50% of the fuel consumed in society. In Britain this is half of approximately £32b/a fuel spend. Heatpumps can deliver energy harvested from one place in a ratio of upto 10:1 vs "drive fuel consumed". Typically this fuel being electricity.
Neatpump, Star Renewable Energy's bespoke Heatpump, is a natural alternative to traditional methods of heating for medium to large capacity applications.
Drawing on nearly 40 years of industrial refrigeration experience, in 2009 Star Refrigeration launched a new range of high efficiency, “Natural working fluid” Heatpumps. Neatpumps, as we call them, are available with module capacities ranging from 50kW to 8000kW, the largest site to date is 14.3MW. Neatpumps can cool both water and secondary fluids including glycol, making them suitable for a variety of applications.
Ideal for both new projects and retrofits, Neatpumps can be commissioned and charged prior to delivery, reducing site installation and commissioning time. Neatpumps are quite versatile due to their use of Vilter compressors with variable Vi. This allows very high pressure on both the suction and discharge as would be found on a two stage district heating plant.