TRI-HP

The overall goal of the TRI-HP project is to develop and validate flexible energy-efficient and affordable trigeneration systems. The systems will be based on electrically driven natural refrigerant (propane and carbon dioxide) heat pumps coupled with renewable electricity generators (PV), using cold (ice slurry), warm and electricity storages to provide heating, cooling and electricity to multi-family residential buildings with a renewable share of 80%.

TRI-HP systems will include a smart control, managing electricity, heat and cold in an optimized way. The flexibility will be achieved by enabling three heat sources: solar (with ice as storage medium), ground and air. The TRI-HP systems are targeting most of the residential buildings in the EU. Several technologies such as heat pumps, with innovative heat exchangers (e.g. supercoolers with icephobic properties, dual-source heat exchangers and a tri-partite gas-cooler), ejectors, solar thermal collectors, photovoltaics and borehole heat exchangers will be used. Cost-effectiveness, high efficiency and system flexibility are the driving forces of the proposed solutions while social barriers (aesthetics, noise, lack of confidence) and benefits influencing the acceptance of TRI-HP systems in different countries, regions or specific stakeholder groups will be investigated.