The Edificio Papelera has installed a pioneering energy installation to cut heating costs by half

The Edificio Papelera, one of the buildings renovated under the Zorrotzaurre Project, in this case for cultural activities, has installed a pioneering energy installation to cut heating costs by 50%. The installation is based on seasonal thermal storage (SATE: Surplus Air Thermal Energy) that consists of storage of the solar thermal energy in the summer months for its use later, in the winter months.

The European Project EINSTEIN (Effective Integration of Seasonal Thermal Energy Storage in Existing Buildings) in which Spain and six further European countries participate (Germany, Bulgaria, Holland, Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom) has made this installation possible.

The EINSTEIN project is to develop, evaluate and demonstrate a low energy consumption heating system, based on the SATE concept, together with heat pumps to cover the demand for heating and hot water in existing buildings. In this way, energy consumption can be dramatically reduced when compared to existing conventional thermal systems. To demonstrate the concept, two pilot installations have been built, one in Poland and the other in the Edificio Papelera.

For the seasonal heat storage system of the Zorrotzaurre building, a double cylindrical metal structure, one inside the other, with special thermal insulation between them was designed. This tank, 8 metres high and 7 metres in diameter, allows for the storage of 200,000 litres of water that can retain heat for weeks after attaining a temperature of 90ºC.