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John O | February 2017

German city considering innovative municipal heat storage plan


the city of hamburg, germany is working towards a proclaimed goal of being climate neutral by 2050 and the hamburg institut, a local ecological planning office, and consulaqua, a subsidiary of municipal waterworks hamburg wasser, want to assist with that mission by storing thermal energy underground until it is required.

 

hamburg_600

hamburg, germany is examining a plan for storing thermal energy underground. (wikimedia commons)

 

as described by an article on theenergycollective.com, hamburg has the right geological conditions to make this process possible, namely that it sits on two large sand aquifers for fresh and salt water with a clay layer in between.

 

in the summer, cold saltwater would be pumped from below the city to the surface where it would be heated by factories, waste incinerators, gas plants and renewable energy sources. that water would then be deposited back under the clay layer at a different location in the city.

 

the article explained, “as the winter approached, pumping the heated saltwater up from storage to the surface would enable the thermal energy to be withdrawn for heating distribution. the cooled saline solution could then be pumped back into the aquifer from which it had been originally taken.”

 

jeffrey michel, an independent energy expert, wrote the article for theenergycollective.com. in his estimation, “the achievable heat storage capacity is practically infinite, since layers of sand awash in saltwater lie below the entire city.” partially, this is due to the warming of the elbe river, which flows next to the city and is a “ready source of thermal energy for storage.”

 

michel added that the larger the volume of stored, heated water the more likely that it will serve its ultimate purpose of warming the city in winter due to a third of the energy being dissipated underground.

 

hamburg has europe’s oldest, modern water supply and has more than 250,000 drill holes where heated salt water could be pumped back into the ground.

 

“while no timetable has been set,” michel concluded, “early implementation in hamburg could subsequently be emulated by other cities. favorable geological conditions exist throughout the germanic basin between south england and the eastern border of poland. time will tell how successful this concept could become.”

 

to read the full article, click http://www.theenergycollective.com/energy-post/2398001/hamburg-considers-innovative-heat-storage-scheme

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