Clean heating using mid–deep-groundwater heat pumps in Mei County, China

Abstract

With the promotion of rural revitalization in China, mid-deep-groundwater heat pump systems have played a significant role in the efficient utilization of geothermal energy. Restricted by the pressure threshold of the old municipal heating network and the amount of construction investment, the advantages of geothermal energy are often greatly limited, and there is a lack of combined system development and analysis of actual engineering cases. In this study, we constructed and operated a mid–deep-groundwater heat pump system in Mei County. Based on an analysis of the geothermal resource endowment and building energy demand, a preliminary geophysical exploration was conducted to determine the drilling locations of heat source wells. Drilling was completed and tracer experiments were conducted to determine the connectivity between wells. The existing operation strategy of the new heat source and old pipe network geothermal energy heating system was analyzed by testing the operation during the heating season. The results indicate that the current operating scheme of the heat pump unit group presents a step distribution in terms of power consumption and heating capacity. Based on an optimized operation plan, electricity bill savings of at least 392000 RMB can be achieved per heating season.