IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v17y2024i19p4832-d1486702.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Utilizing Wastewater Tunnels as Thermal Reservoirs for Heat Pumps in Smart Cities

Author

Listed:
  • Fredrik Skaug Fadnes

    (Department of Energy and Petroleum, University of Stavanger, 4021 Stavanger, Norway
    Department of Energy and Smart Technology, Norconsult AS, 1338 Sandvika, Norway)

  • Mohsen Assadi

    (Department of Energy and Petroleum, University of Stavanger, 4021 Stavanger, Norway)

Abstract

The performance of heat pump systems for heating and cooling heavily relies on the thermal conditions of their reservoirs. This study introduces a novel thermal reservoir, detailing a 2017 project where the Municipality of Stavanger installed a heat exchanger system on the wall of a main wastewater tunnel beneath the city center. It provides a comprehensive account of the system’s design, installation, and performance, and presents an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model that predicts heat pump capacity, electricity consumption, and outlet temperature across seasonal variations in wastewater temperatures. By integrating domain knowledge with the ANN, this study demonstrates the model’s capability to detect anomalies in heat pump operations effectively. The network also confirms the consistent performance of the heat exchangers from 2020 to 2024, indicating minimal fouling impacts. This study establishes wastewater heat exchangers as a safe, effective, and virtually maintenance-free solution for heat extraction and rejection.

Suggested Citation

  • Fredrik Skaug Fadnes & Mohsen Assadi, 2024. "Utilizing Wastewater Tunnels as Thermal Reservoirs for Heat Pumps in Smart Cities," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-35, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:19:p:4832-:d:1486702
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/19/4832/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/19/4832/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lund, Rasmus & Persson, Urban, 2016. "Mapping of potential heat sources for heat pumps for district heating in Denmark," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 129-138.
    2. Jan Rosenow & Duncan Gibb & Thomas Nowak & Richard Lowes, 2022. "Heating up the global heat pump market," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 7(10), pages 901-904, October.
    3. Fredrik Skaug Fadnes & Reyhaneh Banihabib & Mohsen Assadi, 2023. "Using Artificial Neural Networks to Gather Intelligence on a Fully Operational Heat Pump System in an Existing Building Cluster," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-33, May.
    4. Daniele Cecconet & Jakub Raček & Arianna Callegari & Petr Hlavínek, 2019. "Energy Recovery from Wastewater: A Study on Heating and Cooling of a Multipurpose Building with Sewage-Reclaimed Heat Energy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-11, December.
    5. Aguilera, José Joaquín & Meesenburg, Wiebke & Markussen, Wiebke Brix & Zühlsdorf, Benjamin & Elmegaard, Brian, 2024. "Real-time monitoring and optimization of a large-scale heat pump prone to fouling - towards a digital twin framework," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 365(C).
    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. Tong Ren & Mengzhuo Li & Long He & De Wang & Lingbo Kong, 2025. "A Theoretical and Test Analysis of Heat and Humidity Transfer for Deeply Buried Underground Corridors with Different Shapes," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-24, January.
    2. Sabina Kordana-Obuch & Beata Piotrowska & Mariusz Starzec, 2025. "Gaining CO 2 Reduction Insights with SHAP: Analyzing a Shower Heat Exchanger with Artificial Neural Networks," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-23, April.

    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. Gabriel Reichert & Sophie Ehrenbrandtner & Robert Fina & Franz Theuretzbacher & Clemens Birklbauer & Christoph Schmidl, 2025. "Different Types of Heat Pump Owners in Austria—Purchase Arguments, User Satisfaction, Operating Habits, and Expectations Regarding Control and Regulation Strategies," Businesses, MDPI, vol. 5(2), pages 1-36, April.
    2. Li, Xiang & Yilmaz, Selin & Patel, Martin K. & Chambers, Jonathan, 2023. "Techno-economic analysis of fifth-generation district heating and cooling combined with seasonal borehole thermal energy storage," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    3. Mehdipour, Ramin & Garvey, Seamus & Baniamerian, Zahra & Cardenas, Bruno, 2024. "Ice source heat pump system for energy supply via gas pipelines – Part1: Performance analysis in residential units," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 309(C).
    4. Fabian Arnold & Amir Ashour Novirdoust & Philipp Theile, 2025. "Environmental Policy Instruments for Investments in Backstop Technologies Under Present Bias - An Application to the Building Sector," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 88(4), pages 1039-1070, April.
    5. Østergaard, Poul Alberg & Andersen, Anders N., 2021. "Variable taxes promoting district heating heat pump flexibility," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    6. Aunedi, Marko & Olympios, Andreas V. & Pantaleo, Antonio M. & Mersch, Matthias & Markides, Christos N., 2025. "System-level techno-economic comparison of residential low-carbon heating and cooling solutions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 317(C).
    7. Andrei David & Brian Vad Mathiesen & Helge Averfalk & Sven Werner & Henrik Lund, 2017. "Heat Roadmap Europe: Large-Scale Electric Heat Pumps in District Heating Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-18, April.
    8. Zygmunt Lipnicki & Marta Gortych & Daniel Polak, 2024. "The Joint Use of a Phase Heat Accumulator and a Compressor Heat Pump," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-13, October.
    9. Bahl, Christian R.H. & Engelbrecht, Kurt & Gideon, Arendse & Levy, Mikael Alexander Vinogradov & Marcussen, Jacob Birkjær & Imbaquingo, Carlos & Bjørk, Rasmus, 2024. "Design, optimization and operation of a high power thermomagnetic harvester," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 376(PB).
    10. Rämä, M. & Mohammadi, S., 2017. "Comparison of distributed and centralised integration of solar heat in a district heating system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 649-660.
    11. Tobias Brudermueller & Ugne Potthoff & Elgar Fleisch & Felix Wortmann & Thorsten Staake, 2025. "Estimation of energy efficiency of heat pumps in residential buildings using real operation data," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-15, December.
    12. Lucas W. Davis, 2024. "The Economic Determinants of Heat Pump Adoption," Environmental and Energy Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 5(1), pages 162-199.
    13. 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.
    14. Alessandro Guzzini & Marco Pellegrini & Edoardo Pelliconi & Cesare Saccani, 2020. "Low Temperature District Heating: An Expert Opinion Survey," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-34, February.
    15. Mengting Jiang & Camilo Rindt & David M. J. Smeulders, 2022. "Optimal Planning of Future District Heating Systems—A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-38, September.
    16. Xu, Yi & Zhan, Chenxuan & Jensen, Adam R. & Gao, Meng & Kong, Weiqiang & Fan, Jianhua, 2024. "Thermo-economic analysis of a solar district heating plant with an air-to-water heat pump," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 237(PA).
    17. Averfalk, Helge & Ingvarsson, Paul & Persson, Urban & Gong, Mei & Werner, Sven, 2017. "Large heat pumps in Swedish district heating systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 1275-1284.
    18. Levihn, Fabian, 2017. "CHP and heat pumps to balance renewable power production: Lessons from the district heating network in Stockholm," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 670-678.
    19. Shamoushaki, Moein & Koh, S.C. Lenny, 2024. "Net-zero life cycle supply chain assessment of heat pump technologies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 309(C).
    20. Werner, Sven, 2017. "International review of district heating and cooling," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 617-631.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:19:p:4832-:d:1486702. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.