A hint of Gizeh in Lennestadt

Sep 22, 2010

Anyone travelling to Gizeh will – not surprisingly – see pyramids. But when travelling to Lennestadt in the Sauerland region, nobody would expect it and is therefore truly impressed when standing in front of the pyramids there. The energetic concept is just as surprising.

The Sauerland pyramids in Lennestadt are situated on a mountain overlooking the town of Meggen and can be seen from afar. It is a place of wonder and amazement, which is accessible to the public from 2010. The area has been named the Galileo Park and exhibitions and presentations are already taking place there. The company RAYONEX is based in 3 of the 7 pyramids.

"It is not a place for simple, shallow minded entertainment. It is in fact a place full of sophisticated attractions, intended to awaken the interest in new topics and encourage the mind to reflect on certain aspects", according to Wolfgang Schmidt, constructor of the pyramids and company owner of RAYONEX and the bore rig manufacturer TRACTO-TECHNIK.
The pyramids are subject to an innovative energy concept. With this in mind, a decision was already made to apply geothermal energy for heating and cooling in the first pyramid, which was built in 2005. One of the reasons fort his was the fact that gas was not available in this region at the time and therefore the only alternative would have been oil, but this option was not wanted under any circumstances.

Additionally TRACTO-TECHNIK had the necessary Bore-know-how, so the decision to go for geothermal energy was made very quickly.
To be able to heat the 1300 m² offices and production areas of the Rayonex pyramids, a total of 15 flat, inclined bores, each of 50 m length (total 900 metres) were placed into the mountain using HDD technology and later they were equipped with twin U-sondes. The heating load is 32,6 kW. The heating is direct, which means without the use of heat exchangers by circulating the sole volume from the pyramids into the mountain and vice-versa. As the area is situated on the filled ground of a disused mining site, a special focus during the bore process was set on boring through water leading horizons, as much as possible. This was intended to increase the high extracting and regeneration performance.
Another bore method was applied to heat and cool the other pyramids. A total of 9 vertical bores, each over 99 metres (total: 881 m) were carried out with the vertical bore rig Geodrill 20 V from TRACTO-TECHNIK. After completion these bores were also equipped with twin U-sondes (diameter 32 mm). A 25% monoethyleneglycole mixture was used as the heat transfer medium. To be able to dimension the earth sonde field, the distribution of the sondes was calculated in advance using the “Earth energy designer" software. The heating and cooling of the pyramids is steered from the energy supply station, the so-called "energy temple“. The 63 kW heating pump installed here provides a pleasant climate in all the pyramids.
In the Galileo park not only the buildings are heated and cooled, but also the 200 m² pond. In this case the innovative GRD technology was applied. A shaft was installed on the pond’s island, from where ten bores up to 50 m depths were produced radially. (Diameter 114 mm). The compact bore rig only required a small set-up surface and hardly causes any surface damage. The bore rig has a great advantage when renewing heating systems in old buildings. Also a study carried out at Siegen University has shown that radial bores are especially energy efficient and only cause minimum running costs.

Water was used as a heat transfer medium inside the coaxial sondes. This is called direct heating and cooling, without adding a heating pump to the whole circuit. The geothermal heating and cooling load is 15 kW.
Furthermore an animal enclosure, where currently 4 coatis are living, as "watchers" over the pyramids, was connected via a 8 kW air-water heating pump to the ground heater. The Sauerland pyramids are therefore operated with horizontal, vertical and radially installed geothermal sondes, as well as with an air-water heating pump. The following table gives an overview of the size, power and costs of the single sonde fields and the air-water costs.

The addition consumption of sonde field 2 in comparison to sonde field 1 (with similar square metre quantities) can be explained via the busy visitor periods and the running of the snack bar inside the Galileo Park. For this reason the ...WP.???? is dimensioned higher. The consumption figures in sonde field 2 are only prognosis figures, as the park will only start to operate at the end of 2010.
Sonde fieldArea to be heatedHeat or cooling loadCosts
  Oil only heating Gas only heating Power heating and cooling WP
1 Horizontal bores RAYONEX pyramids 1300 m². 32,6 kW 7500 € 8670 € 3100 €
2 Vertical bores Galileo-Park pyramids 1400 m² 63 kW 6900 € 7950 € 4290 €
3 GRD Slanted bore technologyPond set-up 200 m² 15 kW 3500 € 3950 € 450 €
4 Air - Water WPAnimal enclosure 130 m² 8 kW 2250 € 2600 € 850 €

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