Investment in Thermia Mega pays for itself in just one year

With a very old energy system using a standard electric boiler, Bø Hotell was consuming about 660.000 kWh/year and, with the ever-increasing electricity prices, the heating costs had got to €170.000 a year. Something had to be done. The hotel has an enormous demand for hot water, particularly in the mornings when the rooms are filled with guests travelling to the Waterpark in Bø Sommarland, often a whole family per room. The owner of the Bø Hotell, Stein Helge Solberg, recognised the need for a completely up to date new heating system. After considering various options, Thermia was chosen, together with Haugestøl VVS AS as the installation contractor, to provide heat pumps using the very latest hot gas technology to deliver high temperature hot water.

A commercial solution – Mega heat pumps The solution was to install two Thermia Mega XL heat pumps. The Mega XL is a ground source heat pump with inverter technology. At a brine temperature of 0°C the Mega XL delivers 21 - 88 kW. If the brine temperature increases by a few degrees, the heat pump can quickly deliver 100 kW. The Mega series features hot gas technology. All pipes and wire connections are on the top of the heat pump, which makes it easy to install. These include separate supply and return pipes connected to an exchanger for the hot gas from the compressor. The temperature here is typically close to 100°C. In this way, the hotel gets 70-80°C hot water throughout the heating season without using the auxiliary heater
in the hot water tank. This in turn increases the SCOP for the whole system. Normally, the hot gas circuit provides about 10% of the total hot water demand.

In 2024 the system has been in operation for over a year and, after paying off the loan each month, the hotel is now in profit. This means that the entire investment has selffinanced, with the increased value of the hotel an additional benefit. This is usually the case, as even with energy prices at 1 NOK per kWh, such systems are usually selffinancing. The owner of the hotel is clearly delighted and the result has been more profitable than Stein Helge Solberg could have imagined.