Stored heat makes football pitch playable

When the new football field at Katrineholms Sports center was constructed, heating coils underneath the pitch were installed, which makes its playable even in winter. The heat is collected from an underground energy storage, where waste heat from the artificially frozen bandy court’s compressors is stored.

When cold is produced, also heat is generated. At the Sports Centre in Katrineholm the excess heat, generated by the cool air compressors for the ice rink, is recovered. This heat is transferred to an underground energy storage, where the energy is stored. As the new artificial football field was constructed, heating coils were installed underneath the pitch. These heating coils are connected to the energy storage via heat pumps. In this way, waste heat from the artificially frozen bandy court’s compressors is used to heat the football field’s plastic surface and the pith is playable all year round. Also during the summer energy is added to the energy store, since the football field works as a giant solar panel, collecting heat from the sun. In this way, the temperature in the storage is raised and the heat pump’s efficiency and the operating costs are further improved. According to Katrineholm Municipality, the operating costs with this technology will the next 40 years correspond to one third of what it would have been, compared to a reference plant, of the same size and conventionally heated. In the winter 2008/2009 the football field consumed about 160 MWh energy, comparing to the reference plant, which consumed 1700 MWh.