ExerGo unveils the world’s first high-density heating and cooling district network in Sion, Switzerland

ExerGo -- the EPFL (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne) cleantech spin-off -- unveils the world premiere of its high-density energy network at HES-SO Valais-Wallis‘s Campus Energypolis in Sion, Switzerland.  

In Europe, up to 30% of greenhouse gas emissions comes from heating and cooling our cities. Continuously using traditional fossil fuel-based systems is no longer viable. To meet the increasing energy demand of climate adaption in our homes and buildings while protecting the planet sustainable district heating and cooling networks are seeing an upswing: over 16’500 of them are in the pipeline for Europe by 2035. With its patented technology, ExerGo positions itself as a golden solution to fight climate change and repowering our cities.  

Olivier Bucheli, Executive Chairman, ExerGo: 

“ExerGo is accelerating the energy transition. Providing a novel heating and district cooling solution, ideal for small districts and bigger real estate developments, we are looking forward to collaborating with anyone who wants to contribute to the decarbonization of our cities -- city councils, utilities, project developers, large users and beyond.”  

To date, water networks are commonly seen as one of the best energy systems. as they are more efficient than individual heating and cooling systems (geothermal or fossil fuel-based systems). However, they still need large underground water pipes, which are expensive, logistically challenging and has a limited energy efficiency. While several regions and cities across Europe have taken significant steps to lead the way by implementing such water-based energy networks, such as Geneva, Paris and London, it is in Valais – a small canton at the heart of the Swiss Alps -- that a big revolution is underway.  

© The team of ExerGo before the EPFL Sion offices  

Francois Marechal, EPFL Professor, on the stakes of such an innovation:

“Seeing ExerGo’s smart and sustainable energy solution, I believe the cities of the future will be heated and cooled with CO2 with the potential of becoming autonomous when using solar energy from the roofs. It’s a win-win: not only is CO2 in a closed network improving energy transportation up to 10 times compared to water-based networks, it also helps integrating renewable energy.”

Using sequestered CO2 instead of water as a fluid, ExerGo has installed the world’s first high-density DHCN at the Energypolis -- a campus renowned for its innovation and next generation technology in renewable energy such as thermal- and solar energy, photovoltaic and biomass. The campus has been instrumental in supporting ExerGo’s vision of a new district heating and cooling network, which is smarter, greener and easier to implement than conventional water networks. Saving up to 60% in installation time and cost, the network also harnesses renewable energy- and heat waste sources making it 100% sustainable. The revolutionary energy network of ExerGo is also demonstrating outstanding ecological performances compared to traditional fossil fuel-based systems: 80% less final energy consumption and up to 100% less greenhouse gas emissions.

© The team of ExerGo and its partners during the installation of the network infrastructure

Alberto Mian, CEO, ExerGo, is looking at a bright future:

"We are proud to have successfully launched our first real-life project in Sion marking a key milestone in our development. Proven to supply half MW of heating and cooling, we are catalysing new technologies and innovation in the district energy industry. This is just the beginning on our quest of providing affordable and green energy to all.“  

In Valais, ExerGo has interconnected three large buildings of the Energypolis campus of University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland (HES-SO) (engineering school Hes-so) covering 33’000 square meters. The network benefits from a financing of over four million Swiss francs provided by the EPFL (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne) Energy Demonstrator and the Swiss Federal Office of Energy SFOE). The network is being jointly built by ExerGo, HES-SO Valais-Wallis, and local partners such as the refrigeration service ZeroC and the utility company OIKEN. As a result of its successful pilot, ExerGo’s recently won its first tender with a leading utility company in Switzerland and is having multiple projects in the pipeline. 

#sustainable #decarbonization #cleantech #districtheatingcooling #epfl