"Nearly half a century ago, the US Department of Energy launched a clean energy experiment beneath the University of Minnesota with a simple goal: storing hot water for months at a time in an aquifer more than 100 metres below ground. The idea of the seasonal thermal energy storage was to tuck away excess heat produced in summer, then use it in the winter to warm buildings."
"The Heights, a mixed-use development rising from a former golf course on the city's Greater East Side, will tap thermal energy from an aquifer 100 to 150 metres below ground. Groundwater from wells spread across the northern half of the 45-hectare development will be drawn by high-efficiency electric heat pumps, powered in part by solar panels, to provide low-cost heating and cooling with little greenhouse gas emissions for 850 homes and several light-industrial buildings."
"The groundwater could also serve as a thermal battery, storing excess heat in the summer for use in the winter, said Michael Ahern, senior vice-president for system development at Ever-Green Energy, the firm designing the heating and cooling system. The system will be one of the first large-scale aquifer thermal energy projects operating in the US since the Department of Energy field tests in the 1980s,"
An aquifer thermal energy system will be built beneath The Heights, a 45-hectare mixed-use development near St Paul, Minnesota, accessing groundwater 100–150 metres deep. High-efficiency electric heat pumps, partially powered by solar panels, will draw groundwater from wells across the northern half of the site to provide low-cost heating and cooling with minimal greenhouse gas emissions for 850 homes and light-industrial buildings. The groundwater can function as a seasonal thermal battery by storing excess summer heat for winter use. The project echoes Department of Energy field tests from the 1980s and represents one of the first large-scale U.S. aquifer thermal systems since those tests.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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