1 December 2026
Brussels, Belgium
#HPForum 2026
Award Ceremony
1 December 2026
SQUARE Brussels

SPIRIT Demo 1: Full-scale Cascade Heat pump producing industrial steam at 145°C using waste heat at 18°C from a freezing plant

Competing in the category:

Large Heat Pump Award
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Location: Norway
Year of submission: 2026
Organisation: TNO; Stella Polaris AS, Mayekawa Europe / MYCOM
Sector of application: Industrial
Funding from: EU funds

SPIRIT Demonstration 1 is a full-scale industrial high-temperature heat pump installation at the Stella Polaris shrimp processing facility in Finnsnes, Norway. The plant requires refrigeration for freezing and steam for cooking. Previously, waste heat from the ammonia refrigeration system was rejected to seawater, while steam was produced by a propane boiler. The project connects these two energy demands through a Mayekawa cascade heat pump that upgrades waste heat from approximately 18-21°C to saturated steam at 145°C and around 4 bar(a). With a capacity of approximately 700 kWth, the system is designed to cover the full steam demand of the shrimp cooking process under normal operating conditions. To achieve a temperature lift exceeding 130 K, the system combines an ammonia bottom cycle with a pentane top cycle. This innovative configuration enables direct high-temperature steam generation while using industrial waste heat as the primary energy source. The installation demonstrates industrial electrification, waste heat recovery, and high-temperature heat pump technology in a real production environment. The system has been commissioned successfully, produces steam on site, and is now operated by Stella Polaris with remote support from Mayekawa, demonstrating a successful transition from demonstration project to industrial adoption.

145°C steam from 18°C waste heat. That single number tells the story. The project demonstrates a temperature lift of more than 130 K in a real industrial facility. That’s the “coolest” thing about the project: “the freezing system helps cook the shrimp”. By showing that high-temperature process steam can be generated from very low-temperature waste heat, the project pushes the boundaries of industrial heat-pump technology and demonstrates a pathway to decarbonize some of industry’s most difficult heat demands.

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