Heating and cooling with UTES in Sweden : current situation and potential market development

Abstract

Underground Thermal Energy Storage (UTES) applications have slowly gained acceptance on the Swedish energy market. Two UTES concepts are successfully implemented; the ATES (aquifer storage) and the BTES (borehole storage) systems. Also snow storage in pits or caverns has reached a commercial status. The number of ATES has steadily grown to 40 large-scale plants at the end of 2002. The systems are usually designed for cold storage in district cooling application, but industrial process cooling is also common. The economical potential in terms of straight payback time is usually very favourable. However, there is still a certain risk for operational problems that might jeopardize the calculated profit. Well clogging problems and system control remain as R&D issues to be solved. From a legislation point of view any ATES application needs a permit. The process of obtaining a permit has become complex and time-consuming since a new act on environmental assessment was put into effect in 1999.BTES systems are normally used in smaller applications. At the end of 2002 there were more than 200 installations comprising more than 10 boreholes. The majority of these are applied for space cooling of commercial or institutional buildings and for process cooling within the telecommunication sector. From a technical point of view, BTES are much simpler to construct and operate than ATES. Furthermore, they can be applied in almost any kind of geology. Another advantage compared to ATES is that the permitting procedure is much simpler. The major market obstacle is that the profitability is not always acceptable if calculated as a straight payback time. To increase the market potential, there is a need for further R&D on improvement of borehole heat exchangers and of more effective drilling methods.Snow storage is still a new technology though the Sundsvall snow storage plant has been operated successfully for several years. This good example has inspired several pre-studies of new snow storage plants. These have shown that snow storage is feasible in various sizes and in different applications. ; Godkänd; 2003; 20070210 (ysko)