A framework for assessing the technical and economic potential of shallow geothermal energy in individual and district heating systems: A case study of Slovenia

Gašper Stegnar, D. Staničić, M. Česen, J. Čižman, S. Pestotnik, J. Prestor, A. Urbančič and S. Merše

Energy, 2019, vol. 180, issue C, 405-420

Abstract: The deployment of geothermal energy systems can significantly contribute to climate change mitigation and play a part in the transition to a low carbon society. This study proposes a framework for identifying the shallow geothermal energy potential of new individual and district heating (DH) systems. The model accounts for thermal interference between neighbouring wells and borehole heat exchangers, where the main criteria for analysis are ground temperature, thermal conductivity, heat flow, and heat capacity. The paper presents a cost-effective area method for the identification of potential new DH areas, while considering the cost competitiveness of the heat supplied. Economic potential is determined based on the cost-effectiveness of the competing technologies, separately for urban and rural areas. The results show that although 54% of technical DH potential in Slovenia remains untapped, the future of shallow geothermal energy systems lies predominantly in individual systems, which have proven to be the most cost efficient solution on locations with favourable geological or hydro-geological conditions. Where possible, shallow geothermal energy can contribute from 2% to 25% of energy for heat production in analysed existing fossil fuel based DH systems, thus making shallow geothermal energy suitable for supplying base load power in an economical manner.

Keywords: Shallow geothermal energy; Economic heating potential; Heat density; Spatial constraints; GIS (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544219310035
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:180:y:2019:i:c:p:405-420

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2019.05.121

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

More articles in Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().