Abstract
Aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) combined with ground-source heat pumps (GSHP) offer an attractive technology to match supply and demand by efficiently recycling heating and cooling loads. This study analyses the integration of the ATES–GSHP system in both district heating and cooling networks of an urban district in southwestern Finland, in terms of technoeconomic feasibility, efficiency, and impact on the aquifer area. A novel mathematical modeling for GSHP operation and energy system management is proposed and demonstrated, using hourly data for heating and cooling demand. Hydrogeological and geographic data from different Finnish data sources is retrieved in order to calibrate and validate a groundwater model. Two different scenarios for ATES operation are investigated, limited by the maximum pumping flow rate of the groundwater area. The additional precooling exchanger in the second scenario resulted in an important advantage, since it increased the heating and cooling demand covered by ATES by 13% and 15%, respectively, and decreased the energy production cost by 5.2%. It is concluded that dispatching heating and cooling loads in a single operation, with annually balanced ATES management in terms of energy and pumping flows resulted in a low long-term environmental impact and is economically feasible (energy production cost below 30 €/MWh).
Highlights
According to Eurostat, in 2018, the share of renewable energy sources (RES) used for heating and cooling in EU was 21% and several countries, like Sweden (65%), Latvia (56%), Finland (55%)and Estonia (54%), covered more than half of their heating and cooling consumption with renewable sources [1]
The main objective of this work is to propose a mathematical modeling of the whole Aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES)–ground-source heat pump (GSHP)–district heating (DH)–district cooling (DC) energy chain in order to improve the system’s energy management, as well as to study its technical and economic feasibility and the long-term environmental impact
An important advantage of scenario 2 is shown when comparing a cooling demand covered by ATES
Summary
According to Eurostat, in 2018, the share of renewable energy sources (RES) used for heating and cooling in EU was 21% and several countries, like Sweden (65%), Latvia (56%), Finland (55%)and Estonia (54%), covered more than half of their heating and cooling consumption with renewable sources [1]. According to Eurostat, in 2018, the share of renewable energy sources (RES) used for heating and cooling in EU was 21% and several countries, like Sweden (65%), Latvia (56%), Finland (55%). The variability of renewable generation between heating and cooling seasons, as well as the low coincidence between supply and demand are important challenges for RES penetration, short- and long-term energy storage is needed for maximizing the usage of RES. The utilization of GSHP operating within the urban subsurface space, is an efficient and resilient alternative for sustainable generation of heating and cooling energy in a district level [4]. The potential of ATES integration as a part of sustainable heating and cooling in combination with a ground-source heat pump (GSHP) for energy recovery from the subsurface has been acknowledged worldwide. Fleuchaus et al [3] presented a complete overview of global ATES development and Energies 2020, 13, 2478; doi:10.3390/en13102478 www.mdpi.com/journal/energies
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