The problem 

• Electrification and growth creating capacity issues locally and nationally  

• Generation for peak demand is expensive and more CO2 intensive   

• Capacity constraints affect security of supply 

• Solar and wind farms create unpredictable and spikes generation 

• Individual heat pumps are not designed for integrated heating meaning most classrooms are not at suitable temperatures for learning / productivity, especially at the beginning of the day 

• When classrooms are too cold this also often leads to poor ventilation, poor air quality 

What we have found 

• Pre heating reduces peak demand – this can avoid unnecessary expenditure to meet peak demand and the associated ongoing costs of higher capacity charges  

• By pre-heating the classrooms and offices are ready at the start of the day leading to better learning environment, more productive environment 

• We can reduce overall CO2 emissions by using more clean/green off-peak power 

• There are opportunities for Energy Demand management that can benefit regional and national energy issues – sinking excess energy into water heating, pre-heating and pre-cooling, pools, etc and cutting back when required with minimal impact 

• Opportunities to integrate disparate systems – HVAC (heating, ventilation, air-conditioning) , air quality and active ventilation, load management (hot water cylinders, pools, EV charging), security (occupancy detection and alerts). 

What we have done so far 

• Installed heat pump control systems in hundreds of classrooms  

• Installed energy meters and load monitoring to measure the load on each phase of each DB  

• Enhanced our control platform to include smart algorithms to manage heat pumps and manage them to maintain energy usage within available capacity, without any significant compromise to the school 

• Added the ability to amalgamate the data from sub meters to calculate totals (better data and better value)  

• Installed hot water control systems 

• Learnt a lot about how to control heat pumps optimally! 

What we plan to do 

• Install heat pump control in every classroom in NZ 

• Install energy meters in as many schools as possible, both overall and on as many individual heat pumps as possible 

• Enhance and develop our control system  

• Integrate with the existing CO2 / air quality sensors or deploy our own 

• Develop better heat pump control products  

• Control radiators to  

How does it work? 

By pre-heating the classrooms we can  

• reduce energy consumption during peak times 
• Reduce the “maximum demand” – traditionally the approach is to size the cables, transformers, swich boards to cater for the maximum ever demand. This often involves spending huge amounts of money to cater for short periods of high demand.  
• By pre-heating all the rooms we can “flatten out the demand” and take advantage of energy efficient heat pumps which can also run on renewable energy in off peak times  
• Maximise the benefits of the energy efficiency of heat pumps (300-400% efficient compared to 90% for top gas boiler) 

1. Improve productivity and learning outcomes by ensuring the rooms are at the right temperature for productive learning / work environment right from the start of the day.  

Switching off Variable loads 

• Hot Water Cylinders do not need to be on during peak times – they generally only need a few hours a day.  
• Pool filtration and pool heating can also be easily managed outside peak times  

Heat Pump Control 

By Smartly controlling the heat pumps we are able to: 

• Reduce the peak demand  
• Improve learning outcomes and productivity by ensuring rooms are at the right temperature at the start of the day 
• Lower CO2 and energy costs