Hydrotermia in Navarra’s Water Treatment Plant with the Help of Arteta Spring

Last month STARDUST partner MCP inaugurated a new thermic and renewable energy system in the Water Treatment Plant located in Navarra-Spain

On 26 February 2021, STARDUST partner Mancomunidad de la Comarca de Pamplona (MCP) inaugurated a new thermic and renewable energy system in the Water Treatment Plant in Egillor (Navarra, Spain). In addition, the president and directors of MCP visited the Egillor Water Treatment Plant where laboratory and offices have been refurbished and the thermal envelope of the building has been improved.

MCP is a supra-municipal public authority in charge of water supply and sanitation, waste management and public transport in Pamplona. They recently mounted an innovative heating-cooling system at the Egillor Water Treatment Plant as part of the STARDUST project. It first extracts water from the Arteta spring. The water temperature is then regulated by a heat pump, which is driven by an electricity generated largely by 228 photovoltaic panels installed on the roof top of the building. In 2020 alone, it generated over 108,500 kWh and provided just over 20% of the plant's energy consumption.

In the process, the building's general installations can be either heated or cooled with hot or cold water. CENER, the leading partner of STARDUST, analysed and calculated the thermal use of the Arteta spring water prior to distributing it to the rest of the building.

Every room's temperature can be normalized accordingly as its sensors and probes can be controlled by a centralised control system. As a result, the energy consumption for heating and cooling is controlled, thus avoiding cost overruns in the building operation.

Other than the newly minted heating-cooling system, refurbishment works have also been done to improve the insulation of the building. These come in the form of complete exterior insulation of the first floor, with Exterior Thermal Insulation Systems, as well as the interior lining (wall cladding) over the existing façade enclosures. Furthermore, the roof and the ground floor have been insulated. As a result, the entire space on the first floor has been insulated with respect to both the space under the roof and the ground floor.

The new temperature control system of the building is one of the activities included in the STARDUST project, which aims to increase overall efficiency and improve quality of life, as well as stimulate the local economy and the emergence of new business models.

Having introduced all these changes, MCP will start with the monitoring the systems' progress in the coming weeks. Its results will be available at the end of the project.

Provided by iCube Programme