IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v165y2021ip1p369-380.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Quantifying the technical geothermal potential from shallow borehole heat exchangers at regional scale

Author

Listed:
  • Walch, Alina
  • Mohajeri, Nahid
  • Gudmundsson, Agust
  • Scartezzini, Jean-Louis

Abstract

The extraction of shallow geothermal energy using borehole heat exchangers (BHEs) is a promising approach for decarbonisation of the heating sector. However, a dense deployment of BHEs may lead to thermal interference between neighboring boreholes and thereby to over-exploitation of the heat capacity of the ground. Here we propose a novel method to estimate the technical potential of BHEs which takes into account potential thermal interference as well as the available area for BHE installations. The method combines simulation of the long-term heat extraction through BHEs for a range of borehole spacings and depths and includes an optimisation step to maximise the heat extraction. Application of the method to a case study in western Switzerland, from an available area of 284km2, yields an annual technical potential of 4.65TWh and a maximum energy density of 15.5kWh/m2. The results also suggest that, for a minimum borehole spacing of 5m and a maximum borehole depth of 200m, the cumulative installed borehole depth should not exceed 2km/ha. The estimated technical potential can be used by urban planners for the techno-economic analysis of BHE systems and by policy makers to develop strategies that encourage the use of shallow geothermal energy.

Suggested Citation

  • Walch, Alina & Mohajeri, Nahid & Gudmundsson, Agust & Scartezzini, Jean-Louis, 2021. "Quantifying the technical geothermal potential from shallow borehole heat exchangers at regional scale," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(P1), pages 369-380.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:165:y:2021:i:p1:p:369-380
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2020.11.019
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148120317602
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2020.11.019?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gemelli, Alberto & Mancini, Adriano & Longhi, Sauro, 2011. "GIS-based energy-economic model of low temperature geothermal resources: A case study in the Italian Marche region," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 2474-2483.
    2. Tian, Baoqing & Kong, Yanlong & Gong, Yulie & Ye, Cantao & Pang, Zhonghe & Wang, Jiyang & Zhang, Dongdong, 2020. "An improved volumetric method of geothermal resources assessment for shallow ground combining geophysical data," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 2306-2315.
    3. Bayer, Peter & Attard, Guillaume & Blum, Philipp & Menberg, Kathrin, 2019. "The geothermal potential of cities," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 17-30.
    4. García-Gil, Alejandro & Vázquez-Suñe, Enric & Alcaraz, Maria M. & Juan, Alejandro Serrano & Sánchez-Navarro, José Ángel & Montlleó, Marc & Rodríguez, Gustavo & Lao, José, 2015. "GIS-supported mapping of low-temperature geothermal potential taking groundwater flow into account," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 268-278.
    5. Claesson, Johan & Eskilson, Per, 1988. "Conductive heat extraction to a deep borehole: Thermal analyses and dimensioning rules," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 13(6), pages 509-527.
    6. Florides, Georgios & Kalogirou, Soteris, 2007. "Ground heat exchangers—A review of systems, models and applications," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(15), pages 2461-2478.
    7. Schiel, Kerry & Baume, Olivier & Caruso, Geoffrey & Leopold, Ulrich, 2016. "GIS-based modelling of shallow geothermal energy potential for CO2 emission mitigation in urban areas," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 1023-1036.
    8. Alcaraz, Mar & Vives, Luis & Vázquez-Suñé, Enric, 2017. "The T-I-GER method: A graphical alternative to support the design and management of shallow geothermal energy exploitations at the metropolitan scale," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 213-221.
    9. Muñoz, Mauricio & Garat, Pablo & Flores-Aqueveque, Valentina & Vargas, Gabriel & Rebolledo, Sofía & Sepúlveda, Sergio & Daniele, Linda & Morata, Diego & Parada, Miguel Ángel, 2015. "Estimating low-enthalpy geothermal energy potential for district heating in Santiago basin–Chile (33.5 °S)," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 186-195.
    10. Noorollahi, Younes & Gholami Arjenaki, Hamidreza & Ghasempour, Roghayeh, 2017. "Thermo-economic modeling and GIS-based spatial data analysis of ground source heat pump systems for regional shallow geothermal mapping," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 648-660.
    11. Bertermann, D. & Klug, H. & Morper-Busch, L., 2015. "A pan-European planning basis for estimating the very shallow geothermal energy potentials," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 335-347.
    12. Bayer, Peter & de Paly, Michael & Beck, Markus, 2014. "Strategic optimization of borehole heat exchanger field for seasonal geothermal heating and cooling," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 445-453.
    13. Casasso, Alessandro & Sethi, Rajandrea, 2016. "G.POT: A quantitative method for the assessment and mapping of the shallow geothermal potential," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 765-773.
    14. Attard, Guillaume & Bayer, Peter & Rossier, Yvan & Blum, Philipp & Eisenlohr, Laurent, 2020. "A novel concept for managing thermal interference between geothermal systems in cities," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 914-924.
    15. Stegnar, Gašper & Staničić, D. & Česen, M. & Čižman, J. & Pestotnik, S. & Prestor, J. & Urbančič, A. & Merše, S., 2019. "A framework for assessing the technical and economic potential of shallow geothermal energy in individual and district heating systems: A case study of Slovenia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 405-420.
    16. Rivera, Jaime A. & Blum, Philipp & Bayer, Peter, 2017. "Increased ground temperatures in urban areas: Estimation of the technical geothermal potential," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 388-400.
    17. Rodolfo Perego & Sebastian Pera & Antonio Galgaro, 2019. "Techno-Economic Mapping for the Improvement of Shallow Geothermal Management in Southern Switzerland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-24, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Cassina, Lisa & Laloui, Lyesse & Rotta Loria, Alessandro F., 2022. "Thermal interactions among vertical geothermal borehole fields," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 1204-1220.
    2. Zhang, Fangfang & Yu, Mingzhi & Sørensen, Bjørn R. & Cui, Ping & Zhang, Wenke & Fang, Zhaohong, 2022. "Heat extraction capacity and its attenuation of deep borehole heat exchanger array," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(PA).
    3. Luka Perković & Domagoj Leko & Amalia Lekić Brettschneider & Hrvoje Mikulčić & Petar S. Varbanov, 2021. "Integration of Photovoltaic Electricity with Shallow Geothermal Systems for Residential Microgrids: Proof of Concept and Techno-Economic Analysis with RES2GEO Model," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-21, March.
    4. Walch, Alina & Li, Xiang & Chambers, Jonathan & Mohajeri, Nahid & Yilmaz, Selin & Patel, Martin & Scartezzini, Jean-Louis, 2022. "Shallow geothermal energy potential for heating and cooling of buildings with regeneration under climate change scenarios," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 244(PB).
    5. Miocic, Johannes M. & Krecher, Marc, 2022. "Estimation of shallow geothermal potential to meet building heating demand on a regional scale," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 629-640.
    6. Tomislav Kurevija & Marija Macenić & Martina Tuschl, 2023. "Drilling Deeper in Shallow Geoexchange Heat Pump Systems—Thermogeological, Energy and Hydraulic Benefits and Restraints," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-17, September.
    7. Yang, Tianrun & Liu, Wen & Kramer, Gert Jan & Sun, Qie, 2021. "Seasonal thermal energy storage: A techno-economic literature review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    8. Zhang, Tiansheng & Liu, Chun & Bayer, Peter & Zhang, Liwei & Gong, Xulong & Gu, Kai & Shi, Bin, 2022. "City-wide monitoring and contributing factors to shallow subsurface temperature variability in Nanjing, China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 1105-1115.
    9. Korhonen, Kimmo & Markó, Ábel & Bischoff, Alan & Szijártó, Márk & Mádl-Szőnyi, Judit, 2023. "Infinite borehole field model—a new approach to estimate the shallow geothermal potential of urban areas applied to central Budapest, Hungary," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 263-274.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bayer, Peter & Attard, Guillaume & Blum, Philipp & Menberg, Kathrin, 2019. "The geothermal potential of cities," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 17-30.
    2. Cassina, Lisa & Laloui, Lyesse & Rotta Loria, Alessandro F., 2022. "Thermal interactions among vertical geothermal borehole fields," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 1204-1220.
    3. Walch, Alina & Li, Xiang & Chambers, Jonathan & Mohajeri, Nahid & Yilmaz, Selin & Patel, Martin & Scartezzini, Jean-Louis, 2022. "Shallow geothermal energy potential for heating and cooling of buildings with regeneration under climate change scenarios," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 244(PB).
    4. Tissen, Carolin & Menberg, Kathrin & Benz, Susanne A. & Bayer, Peter & Steiner, Cornelia & Götzl, Gregor & Blum, Philipp, 2021. "Identifying key locations for shallow geothermal use in Vienna," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 1-19.
    5. Galgaro, A. & Di Sipio, E. & Carrera, A. & Dalla Santa, G. & Escudero, A. Ramos & Cuevas, J.M. & Pasquali, R. & Sanner, B. & Bernardi, A., 2022. "European and municipal scale drillability maps: A tool to identify the most suitable techniques to install borehole heat exchangers (BHE) probes," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 188-199.
    6. Böttcher, Fabian & Casasso, Alessandro & Götzl, Gregor & Zosseder, Kai, 2019. "TAP - Thermal aquifer Potential: A quantitative method to assess the spatial potential for the thermal use of groundwater," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 85-95.
    7. Miocic, Johannes M. & Krecher, Marc, 2022. "Estimation of shallow geothermal potential to meet building heating demand on a regional scale," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 629-640.
    8. Epting, Jannis & Böttcher, Fabian & Mueller, Matthias H. & García-Gil, Alejandro & Zosseder, Kai & Huggenberger, Peter, 2020. "City-scale solutions for the energy use of shallow urban subsurface resources – Bridging the gap between theoretical and technical potentials," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(P1), pages 751-763.
    9. Korhonen, Kimmo & Markó, Ábel & Bischoff, Alan & Szijártó, Márk & Mádl-Szőnyi, Judit, 2023. "Infinite borehole field model—a new approach to estimate the shallow geothermal potential of urban areas applied to central Budapest, Hungary," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 263-274.
    10. Elisa Heim & Marius Laska & Ralf Becker & Norbert Klitzsch, 2022. "Estimating the Subsurface Thermal Conductivity and Its Uncertainty for Shallow Geothermal Energy Use—A Workflow and Geoportal Based on Publicly Available Data," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-19, May.
    11. Somogyi, Viola & Sebestyén, Viktor & Nagy, Georgina, 2017. "Scientific achievements and regulation of shallow geothermal systems in six European countries – A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 68(P2), pages 934-952.
    12. Rivera, Jaime A. & Blum, Philipp & Bayer, Peter, 2017. "Increased ground temperatures in urban areas: Estimation of the technical geothermal potential," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 388-400.
    13. Casasso, Alessandro & Sethi, Rajandrea, 2017. "Assessment and mapping of the shallow geothermal potential in the province of Cuneo (Piedmont, NW Italy)," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 102(PB), pages 306-315.
    14. Alcaraz, Mar & García-Gil, Alejandro & Vázquez-Suñé, Enric & Velasco, Violeta, 2016. "Use rights markets for shallow geothermal energy management," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 34-46.
    15. Adela Ramos-Escudero & M. Socorro García-Cascales & Javier F. Urchueguía, 2021. "Evaluation of the Shallow Geothermal Potential for Heating and Cooling and Its Integration in the Socioeconomic Environment: A Case Study in the Region of Murcia, Spain," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-21, September.
    16. Ramos-Escudero, Adela & García-Cascales, M. Socorro & Cuevas, Jose M. & Sanner, Burkhard & Urchueguía, Javier F., 2021. "Spatial analysis of indicators affecting the exploitation of shallow geothermal energy at European scale," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 266-281.
    17. Luo, Jin & Wang, Haiqi & Zhang, Haiyong & Yan, Zezhou, 2021. "A geospatial assessment of the installation potential of shallow geothermal systems in a graben basin," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(P1), pages 553-564.
    18. Epting, Jannis & Müller, Matthias H. & Genske, Dieter & Huggenberger, Peter, 2018. "Relating groundwater heat-potential to city-scale heat-demand: A theoretical consideration for urban groundwater resource management," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 1499-1505.
    19. Casasso, Alessandro & Sethi, Rajandrea, 2016. "G.POT: A quantitative method for the assessment and mapping of the shallow geothermal potential," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 765-773.
    20. Vivek Aggarwal & Chandan Swaroop Meena & Ashok Kumar & Tabish Alam & Anuj Kumar & Arijit Ghosh & Aritra Ghosh, 2020. "Potential and Future Prospects of Geothermal Energy in Space Conditioning of Buildings: India and Worldwide Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-19, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:165:y:2021:i:p1:p:369-380. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.