Yanderra Shallow Geothermal Solar Systems Demonstration Project
- $318k Funded by ARENA
- $711k Total project cost
Summary
The Yanderra Shallow Geothermal Solar Systems Demonstration Project will demonstrate a full scale and operational hybrid geothermal system that incorporates solar PV, ground-source heat pumps and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as a standby, at a poultry farm at Yanderra, NSW.
Need
The Yanderra Shallow Geothermal Solar Systems Demonstration Project acknowledges that the poultry broiler industry uses sheds that require both heating and cooling, typically provided by a combination of LPG powered heaters and evaporative coolers. Each heater consumes approximately 2.8 litres of gas per minute of operation. Annual energy bills for chicken farms amount to around $80 to $100 million in aggregate across Australia and result in greenhouse gas emissions of around 1.8 million tonnes CO2e p.a. One farm can produce in excess of 56 tonnes of CO2 for a single winter batch. It is estimated that ground source heat pumps powered by onsite solar PV have the potential to reduce total greenhouse gas emissions by around 1 million tonnes CO2e p.a.
Learn more
Report: Yanderra Shallow Geothermal-Solar Systems Demonstration Lessons Learnt 2
This second Lessons Learnt Report covers the importance of adequate planning around existing commercial poultry operations.
Report: Yanderra Shallow Geothermal-Solar Systems Demonstration Lessons Learnt 1
This report provides the initial lessons learnt from a full scale and operational hybrid geothermal system that incorporates solar PV, ground-source heat pumps and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as a standby.
Media Release: Heat Pump Solution to Reduce Emissions in the Poultry Industry
ARENA annpunced funding to Ground Source Systems to demonstrate a full-scale solar PV and ground-source heat pump system, with gas backup, for heating and cooling at a commercial broiler facility in Yanderra, New South Wales.
Action
The project will:
- Design a system appropriate to suit the needs of a poultry farm in Yanderra, NSW
- Install and integrate a 100-200 kW(th) ground source heat pump system with a pre-existing 100 kW solar PV, to replace the existing LPG fuel required for a single trial shed
- Monitor and analyse the operation of the hybrid system, producing a public report on its findings which sets out the clear cost/benefit analysis of the system to poultry farming.
Outcome
The project aims to:
- Reduce the perceived risk for poultry farms retrofitting such hybrid systems to sheds by demonstrating the technical and economic feasibility of a hybrid geothermal-solar retrofit solution
- Demonstrate how the energy demand of poultry sheds can be coordinated with on-site renewable energy production in order to maximise the use of on-site renewable energy.
Additional impact
Additionally, information gained from this project will better benefit the Ground Source Heat Pump community, as it will provide hard evidence of the energy saving between two identical buildings, with the same load requirements, something that can’t be achieved with normal buildings.
