Baxi Italy: tailor-made hybrid solution reduces energy usage in apartment complex

The Engineering Team at Baxi Italy recently completed a refurbishment for a commercial client in Porto Viro, a town in the province of Rovigo. The project involved a multi-unit apartment building that required a new centralised heating and cooling system to replace outdated equipment and improve the building’s energy efficiency.

Challenge

The intervention was aimed at replacing old boilers and chillers with an advanced, intelligent and centralised heating and cooling solution capable of ensuring high thermal comfort and optimising energy usage, year-round. 

Solution

As in all BDR Thermea Group commercial segment projects, our local teams create tailor-made solutions based on the specific project needs. In this case, Baxi Italy opted for hybrid, centralised climate control: installing a cascade system with LUNA DUO-TEC MP+ 1,130 boilers placed in GMC+ technical cabinets and two BHP 2/A heat pumps.

• High-efficiency heat pumps: Two BHP2/A packaged heat pumps (air-water outdoor units with ON-OFF scroll compressors) were integrated for climate control.
• Domestic hot water production: An additional LUNA DUO-TEC MP+ 1,130 boiler placed in a GMC+ cabinet to handle domestic hot water production.
• Intelligent management: The system is managed by Baxi Hybrid Manager, which automatically selects the most efficient energy source based on the temperature at a given moment, which maximises performance and minimises operating costs.
• Modularity and operational efficiency: The modular, pre-assembled and tested GMC+ cabinets allow fast and accurate maintenance, while the cascade heat pumps offer high modulation and weight distribution, optimising efficiency despite the load. 

Results

Thanks to these solutions, the building’s centralised heating and cooling system achieved a marked improvement in energy efficiency and a significant reduction in consumption. The system's dynamic management allows it to adapt to changes in temperature and load, ensuring constant comfort and optimising operating costs.

“During the refurbishment of the heating and cooling system, it was important to optimise the available space and replace the old equipment quickly to minimise inconvenience for residents. To achieve this we opted for pre-assembled GMC+ cabinets, which enable the integration of boilers, plate heat exchangers, and booster circulators. Additionally, the heat pumps were equipped with "silent packs" fitted with suitable anti-vibration systems to reduce noise emissions — crucial considering the cabinets’ close proximity to residential units. The end result is a tailor-made hybrid system operating at low temperatures, which is helping the client achieve significant reductions in operating costs, also thanks to a new 20 kW photovoltaic system which was installed at the same time,” says Gilles Cortiana, Application Engineer in the Baxi Italy Engineering Team.

Project partners 

At BDR Thermea Group we value good relationships with our project partners. Baxi Italy’s Engineering Team, worked closely with sales agents, specifiers and project developer Studio tecnico Prando di Luca Prando e C. to deliver the best result for our customer. The system installation was handled by Idrotecno di Stefano Ferro & figli.

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