The subsurface plays a crucial role in sustainably cooling and heating buildings, due to the energy transition this role will grow further. Martins’ vision is that the enormous potential to save energy must be utilized sustainably. Under current state of the art and practice and within the current legal framework this is not guaranteed.
Academic research is needed to allow optimal use of subsurface space in areas with high density of ATES systems. Also research is needed to apply ATES under more challenging conditions, e.g. Higher temperatures, more complex subsurface conditions. On top of this research, education is needed to prepare young engineers to properly design and operate such systems.
PROJECTS
ATES Triplet
If you want to have inforamtion on one of studies, please send me a mail: j.m.bloemendal-at-TUDelft.nl
High Temperature ATES –> several projects: greenhouse in Westland, campus TUDelft
Thermal energy from drinkingwater and wastewater networks (KWR)
HIC-paper new-York: Modeling of Thermal Energy Balance in sewer systems
Spatial planing plan for ATES systems at OMALA / Lelystad Airport (KWR)
Interaction between ATES systems and Drinkinwater abstactions (KWR)
I build a tool to quantify interaction between drinking water abstractions and ATES systems. Research funded by drinking water companies.
Sustainable space heating & cooling for hospital tergooi Hilversum (KWR)
Climate – KIC (TUDelft)
Hoekstra, N., Slenders, H., van de Mark, B., Smit, M., Bloemendal, M., Van de Ven, F., Andreu, A., Sani, D., Simmons, N., 2015. Europe-wide Use of Sustainable Energy from Aquifers, Complete report. Climate-KIC.
Groundwater discharge for ATES systems (TAUW/BodemenergieNL)
Bloemendal, M., Timmermans, T., 2014. Lozen bij bodemenergiesystemen.
General description/explanation of ATES (TAUW)
Design aspects, legislation etc.
Bloemendal, M., Mathijssen, H., 2013. Bodemenergie, Warm aanbevolen. SKB, Gouda.
Climate scenario’s and its effect on energy balans of ATES systems (TAUW)
Bloemendal, M., 2012. Klimaatscenario’s en balans van WKO-systemen (influence of climate change on ATES systems). TAUW, Rotterdam.
Geothermal energy storage is of crucial importance to sustain energy system
To meet greenhouse gas emission reduction goals, the heating and cooling demand of buildings is of crucial importance to sustain, as it is about 50% of the total energy consumption (Jong, 2016). As heat can only be transported over small distances, different studies indicate that local solutions need to be found to sustain space heating and cooling (Hoogervorst, 2017; Ministry-of-Economic-affairs, 2016). In moderate climates and industrialized areas both heating and cooling capacity is abundantly available, however mostly not at the right time and/or at the right location. The Dutch government wants to utilize waste heat from industries and power plants (Kamp, 2015; Ministry-of-Economic-affairs, 2016), then supply (constant) needs to be met with demand (seasonally varying). Also with sustainable heat sources, like geothermal and solar heat, there is a mismatch in time between availability and demand.
Storage facilities are needed to overcome those discrepancies in time at individual building as well as local level. There are many options for heat storage, considering the required capacity and cost, subsurface heat storage is by far the cheapest and most feasible technology in areas where sandy layers with groundwater exist (IEA et al., 2013). Recent research showed that in the Dutch energy system without gas, about 75% of the required heating and cooling needs to come from the subsurface (Naber et al., 2016); both geothermal mining as well as heat storage and recovery from the subsurface.
Figure. Example of waste heat and variable heat utilization with heat storage (Hartog et al., 2017)
Up-scaling geothermal energy storage requires education, research and development
Both recognized as well as relatively new storage technologies need substantial research and development to allow for utilization of their expected potential. An overview of different geothermal technologies is given in Figure 2.
Recognized geothermal storage systems (ATES and BTES) use ~5°C storage for cooling and up to 20°C for heating in combination with a heat pump. Although there are already many of such storage systems operational in The Netherlands, their level of adoption is still very modest; 0.2 % for non-houses and 1% for houses (Agterberg, 2016). The limited adoption rate is caused by both over-cautious legislation and the fact it is only applied in new buildings due to the required level of insulation. Despite the limited adoption, many cities experience scarcity of subsurface space for such systems, caused by too many safety factors regarding the mutual distance between such systems (Bloemendal et al., 2014).
In densely build areas with a large heat demand (i.e. existing buildings & houses), district heating is a more efficient and cost effective option than low temperature energy storage. As discussed above (local) district heating networks also require large scale thermal energy storage facilities, only at much higher temperatures compared ATES systems. Given the potential role of high temperature ATES in the energy transition, local authorities allow pilot studies despite current legislation prevents geothermal energy storage at temperatures higher than 25°C (Ministry-of-Infrastructure-and-Environment, 2013).
References
Agterberg, F.A., 2016. Roadmap Bodemenergie RVO.
Bloemendal, M., Olsthoorn, T., Boons, F., 2014. How to achieve optimal and sustainable use of the subsurface for Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage. Energy Policy 66, 104-114.
Hartog, N., Bloemendal, M., Slingerland, E., van, W.A., 2017. Duurzame warmte gaat ondergronds. VV+ sept-okt 17.
Hoogervorst, N., 2017. Toekomstbeeld klimaatneutrale warmtenetten in Nederland. PBL, Den Haag.
IEA, ETSAP, IRINA, 2013. Thermal Energy Storage, Technology Brief. iea, ETSAP, IRINA.
Jong, K.d., 2016. Warmte in Nederland (heat in the Netherlands), Steenwijk.
Kamp, H., 2015. Warmtevisie, ministry of economic affairs, Den Haag.
Ministry-of-Economic-affairs, 2016. Energieagenda, Naar een CO₂-arme energievoorziening. Ministry of Economic affairs, Den Haag.
Ministry-of-Infrastructure-and-Environment, 2013. Waterregeling (WaterAct), in: Ministry-of-Infrastructure-and-Environment (Ed.), Den Haag.
Naber, N., Schepers, B., Schuurbiers, M., Rooijers, F., 2016. Een klimaatneutrale warmtevoorziening voor de gebouwde omgeving – update 2016. CE-Delft, Delft.
Stam, S., 2016. Enorme opslagtank geeft speelruimte in levering warmte, Energiegids.nl.
Martin Bloemendal 