Analysis of the energy performance of a ground source heat pump system after five years of operation

GeoCool plant was the result of a EU project whose main purpose was to adapt ground coupled heat pump technology to cooling dominated areas. The execution of this experimental plant was completed at the end of year 2004, starting on February 2005 the regular operation of the air conditioning system. Since then, GeoCool facility has been monitored by a network of sensors characterizing its most relevant parameters. Several aspects of the performance and behaviour of the system during its first operational year were presented on a previous paper. This paper presents the energy performance measurements of GeoCool ground coupled heat pump system acquired during five years of operation as well as the evolution of the return water temperature from the ground as a representative of the ground temperature. The analysis of the experimental results shows that the system energy performance is maintained through the years with no appreciable impact on ground thermal response.