HEATSTORE: high temperature underground thermal energy storage

Thermal energy storage technologies need to be further developed and need to become an integral component in the future energy system infrastructure to meet variations in both the availability and demand of energy. The main objectives of project HEATSTORE are to lower the cost, reduce risks, improve the performance of high temperature (~25°C to ~90°C) underground thermal energy storage (HT-UTES) technologies and to optimize heat network demand side management (DSM). This is primarily achieved by 6 new demonstration pilots and 8 case studies of existing systems with distinct configurations of heat sources, heat storage and heat utilization. It will advance the commercial viability of HT-UTES technologies and, through an optimized balance between supply, transport, storage and demand, enable geothermal energy production to reach its maximum deployment potential in the European energy transition. HEATSTORE is a project under the GEOTHERMICA – ERA NET Cofund and contributes to achieving the several objectives of accelerating the uptake of geothermal energy by 1) advancing and integrating different types of underground thermal energy storage (UTES) in the energy system, 2) providing a means to maximize geothermal heat production and optimize the business case of geothermal heat production doublets, 3) addressing technical, economic, market, environmental, regulatory and policy aspects that are necessary to support efficient and cost-effective deployment of UTES technologies in Europe. The 3-year project started in 2018 will stimulate a fast-track market uptake in Europe, promoting development from demonstration phase to commercial deployment within 2 to 5 years, and provide an outlook for utilization potential towards 2030 and 2050. The HEATSTORE consortium brings together 23 contributing partners (mix of scientific research institutes and private companies) from 9 countries.HEATSTORE (170153-4401) is one of nine projects under the GEOTHERMICA – ERA NET Cofund aimed at accelerating the uptake of geothermal energy. The GEOTHERMICA project is supported by the European Union’s HORIZON 2020 programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement No 731117.Postprint (published version

Integrating plus energy buildings and districts with the eu energy community framework:Regulatory opportunities, barriers and technological solutions

The aim of this paper is to assess opportunities the Clean Energy Package provides for Plus Energy Buildings (PEBs) and Plus Energy Districts (PEDs) regarding their economic optimization and market integration, possibly leading to new use cases and revenue streams. At the same time, insights into regulatory limitations at the national level in transposing the set of EU Clean Energy Package provisions are shown. The paper illustrates that the concepts of PEBs and PEDs are in principle compatible with the EU energy community concepts, as they relate to technical characteristics while energy communities provide a legal and regulatory framework for the organization and governance of a community, at the same time providing new regulatory space for specific activities and market integration. To realize new use cases, innovative ICT approaches are needed for a range of actors actively involved in creating and operating energy communities as presented in the paper. The paper discusses a range of different options to realize PEBs and PEDs as energy communities based on the H2020 EXCESS project. It concludes, however, that currently the transposition of the Clean Energy Package by the EU Member States is incomplete and limiting and as a consequence, in the short term, the full potential of PEBs and PEDs cannot be exploited

Seasonal thermal energy storage of solar energy in abandoned coal mines

The use of abandoned coal mines as seasonal thermal energy storage for solar energy is investigated from a technical and economical point of view. This usage is contrasted with using abandoned coal mines as a low temperature heat source for a heat pump, which is the common use in the literature. These two choices are compared for a case study: the city of Genk in Belgium. Genk has 3 mines with a historical combined total production of 175 million ton of coal that were operated until 1988. The underground has been entirely flooded, resulting in an artificial underground water reservoir of 16,7 million m3. Furthermore, the city of Genk has a population of 65,000 inhabitants and hence, there is a significant heat demand in the proximity of the abandoned coal mines. This study features the comparison of two configurations for exploiting the mines as heat storage or heat source for a swimming pool in Genk, with a yearly heat demand of 2700 MWh. The best configuration depends on the activated underground volume. For this particular case, when activating a stone drift with a diameter of 4.22 m, a stone drift of up to 2 km in length is more suited for thermal energy storage, regenerated by solar energy. If a stone drift of more than 5 km can be activated, the abandoned coal mine is more suitable as a low temperature heat source for a heat pump.status: publishe