
The religious and worldly men who once built St. Peter’s Basilica and the other Vatican buildings in the centre of Rome were people of grand gestures and monumental visions. But how is the official residence of the Pope – the Palazzo Apostolico – actually heated? Those who surmise a monumental heating plant are mistaken.
Together with Vatican technicians, Hoval specialists sized the plant’s power output to the actual energy requirements. In place of the three previous boilers with an output of 5.5 MW each, the plant now consists of three high-performance industrial boilers generating 3 MW each. The heating plant produces around 45 percent less power and the Vatican now saves energy – without turning down the heat on Pope Francis in his Palazzo Apostolico chambers and the people around him.
As a qualified and reliable partner, Hoval supplies numerous religious institutions in Italy. It has therefore been involved in the refurbishment of the Vatican heating plant and district heating network dating back to 1920. Notwithstanding the reality of energy efficiency, Hoval specialists are still overwhelmed every time they see St. Peter’s Basilica and the surrounding buildings.