Johnson Controls announced that it will provide green heat to the city of Zürich through a new waste incineration project spearheaded by the municipal utilities of Zürich ERZ (Entsorgung & Recycling Zurich).
The project entails the expansion of the plant with a third process line and heat recovery from the flue gases. It is set to start operations in 2027.
As part of the project, Johnson Controls said its heat pumps will feed the recovered energy into the district heating network and provide additional heat to around 15,000 homes.
According to the European Heat Pump Association, heat accounts for more than 60% of energy use in European industries. There is significant potential to meet this need using freely available ambient or waste heat sources, it cited.
Richard Lek, Johnson Controls president, EMEA, said: “As one of the largest untapped sources of energy, excess heat represents huge potential for businesses to reduce operating costs and become more resilient while meeting decarbonization targets
“In 2024 alone, Johnson Controls helped cut customers’ expenses by 53% and reduce emissions by 60% compared to conventional natural gas boilers. We are proud to be partnering with ERZ on this innovative project and highlight the tremendous opportunity of waste heat sources – paving the way toward more energy-efficient and sustainable urban environments.”
For the city of Zürich, Johnson Controls stated that it will provide a custom-made heat pump solution with six high performance screw compressors, delivering a total system output of 42 MW. The heat pumps will extract low-temperature heat from the flue gas of a large waste-to-energy facility, it noted, raising the overall efficiency of the plant significantly.
To maximise the waste heat extraction and further increase efficiency, the units will be applied as three pairs of heat pumps operating in series. The company said this will reduce the lift required and is expected to boost efficiency by as much as 30%.
Jürg Bruder, ERZ, added: “The City of Zürich is actively committed to achieve net carbon neutrality by 2040 and a major part of this is the increase of carbon free supply of heat. By teaming up with Johnson Controls, we’re further driving momentum in the heat transition and paving the way toward a more sustainable future.”