Thermal performance and heat transport in aquifer thermal energy storage

• Published in: Hydrogeology journal Vol. 22; no. 1; pp. 263 - 279
• Main Authors: Sommer, W. T., Doornenbal, P. J., Drijver, B. C., van Gaans, P. F. M., Leusbrock, I., Grotenhuis, J. T. C., Rijnaarts, H. H. M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.02.2014; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aquatic Pollution; Aquifers; Density; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Energy management; Energy storage; Flow rate; Flow rates; Geology; Geophysics/Geodesy; Heat transport; Heterogeneity; Hydrogeology; Hydrology/Water Resources; Interference; Preferential flow; Seasonal storage; simulations; Sustainable energy; systems; Temperature effects; temperature sensing data; Thermal energy; Transport; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Water Quality/Water Pollution; Wells; Netherlands; The Netherlands; Heterogeneity; Thermal conditions; Aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES); Distributed temperature sensing (DTS)
• DOI: 10.1007/s10040-013-1066-0
• ISSN: 1431-2174

Aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) is used for seasonal storage of large quantities of thermal energy. Due to the increasing demand for sustainable energy, the number of ATES systems has increased rapidly, which has raised questions on the effect of ATES systems on their surroundings as well as their thermal performance. Furthermore, the increasing density of systems generates concern regarding thermal interference between the wells of one system and between neighboring systems. An assessment is made of (1) the thermal storage performance, and (2) the heat transport around the wells of an existing ATES system in the Netherlands. Reconstruction of flow rates and injection and extraction temperatures from hourly logs of operational data from 2005 to 2012 show that the average thermal recovery is 82 % for cold storage and 68 % for heat storage. Subsurface heat transport is monitored using distributed temperature sensing. Although the measurements reveal unequal distribution of flow rate over different parts of the well screen and preferential flow due to aquifer heterogeneity, sufficient well spacing has avoided thermal interference. However, oversizing of well spacing may limit the number of systems that can be realized in an area and lower the potential of ATES.