Germany only has two Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES) systems in operation, one in Bonn and one in Rostock, but a new study of the climate-friendly ATES technology shows that more than half of the country could benefit from it in the future .
An ATES system relies on shallow groundwater sites to transfer and store excess heat or cooling, depending on the season. The water held underground can then be pumped up as needed, in line with the heating or cooling needs of connected buildings.
There are currently 2,800 such systems around the world, most of them in the Netherlands? the nation that has led the way for ATES technology. Sweden has around 220, while Belgium has 30. They are usually used to supply heating and cooling to large buildings, such as hospitals, universities or airports.
In the US, Stockton University installed the country’s only campus ATES system, with the help of geothermal engineers from IF Technology and Underground Energy. The Stockton system above powers its air conditioning. Increasingly, ATES systems are used in residential buildings such as the new Brink Tower in Amsterdam.
While Germany is slower to adopt the technology, researchers from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have mapped the entire country to show how ATES low temperature (LT) systems can dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with heating and cooling, which accounts for 30% of Germany’s energy consumption.
These systems differ from high-temperature ATES, which can handle waste heat from industrial processes and power plants as well as solar thermal energy, but have significantly different requirements due to their higher temperatures and increased storage depth.
The KIT team studied only the LT use in individual buildings or complexes, and said that using ATES can reduce these building-related emissions by up to 75% compared to older heating and cooling systems. Their paper was recently published in the journal Geothermal Energy.
They based their results on calculations from climate and hydrogeological data and demand estimates. “In addition to climate factors, other aspects such as set point temperatures, internal heat gains and building insulation also significantly affect heating and cooling energy requirements,” the authors note.
“However, the nationwide scope of our study does not allow us to easily integrate this type of detailed building-specific information. We therefore use degree days to obtain a proxy for balanced heating and cooling needs, which are not limited to existing building stock and residential areas. “
As a result, the 54% of land considered suitable for future ATES use (including those that will be so through 2050) is primarily located in three geographic regions of the North German Basin, the Upper Rhine Graben and the South German Molasses Basin.
A regional factor affecting Germany’s potential use of ATES is the rock type. In about 35% of the country, either hard rock or inland bodies of water mean that ATES systems cannot be used. However, the researchers expect a 13% increase in where ATES can be successfully deployed by 2100.
On the other hand, water protection zones (as with drinking water) can limit the use of ATES systems by 11%, the authors note.
?Nevertheless, our study shows that Germany has a high potential for seasonal heat and cold storage in aquifers,? says co-author Rubin Stemmle.
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Source: Shelf life
Source: sn.dk