Key component of the heat supply

Martin Bloemendal and Claire Bossenec co-chaired the session “Underground Thermal Energy Storage: applications, concepts, impact and processes”. The session included many presentations and posters on current and future research on how these technologies can be used as a key component of the future energy supply:

Annick Loschetter (BRGM) presented a poster on “Water concerns in UTES: what can be learnt from geothermal experience & what issues need to be specifically addressed?”. Annick explained how storing heat at higher temperatures leads to new questions that need to be answered by research. For example, what is the role of microbiology and what is the effect of the heat storage on nearby aquifers?

Ben Norden (GFZ) presented “The realization of a high-temperature ATES in Berlin: from explorational drilling to implementation in Berlin-Adlershof”. The ATES session showed the potential for ATES to play a significant role in the energy transition, by covering large-scale and seasonal thermal storage. Ben presented European prospects and discussed policies driving ATES deployment. Modelling results highlighted processes, such as changes in viscosity and density, that can influence heat recovery and, therefore, should be considered during ATES implementation.  The PUSH-IT sites in Delft and Berlin were essentially the only implementation projects on high-temperature ATES presented. This pronounces, that the PUSH-IT project plays an essential role in transferring HT-ATES from a brilliant concept to an actual solution for seasonal thermal storage.

Phil Vardon (TU Delft) showcased the PUSH-IT pilot site in Delft in the presentation “High-Temperature Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (HT-ATES) system for research development and demonstration on the TU Delft campus”. He presented the scientific programme for the Delft project, which focuses on understanding characteristics of the underground, monitoring water quality and biological conditions, innovations in drilling and completion, assessing and improving performance, societal engagement, and legal aspects. The goal is to allow access to other universities or institutions to jointly carry out research and perform experiments.

Martin Bloemendal and representatives from many other consortium partners gave an overview of the PUSH-IT project in “The PUSH-IT project: Geothermal energy storage demonstration and advances for different storage technologies and geological settings.”

Assessing the integrity of the wellbore is necessary to sustainably operate underground heat storage systems. In another session, Guido Blöcher, Liang Pei, Stefan Kranz and others from GFZ tackled how they analysed wellbore integrity in their poster “Analysis of Wellbore Integrity using DTS Monitoring and Numerical Modelling in the Practice of ATES”. You can view the poster here.

We are looking forward to presenting new insights from PUSH-IT at the next edition of EGU!