| Abstract |
Geothermal district heating has developed in Paris Basin since the early 70’s. Before the end of the 80’s, more than 50 operations had been realised. All these networks exploit the Dogger aquifer, at a depth between 1500 and 1900 m, and a temperature between 65 to 85 °C. More than 30 years of exploitation show that the technology is now well mastered. Today, around 150 000 dwellings are heated thanks to geothermal district heating in Paris Basin. This paper present the case study of this successful exploitation of a single aquifer—and probably one of the biggest in the world at a regional scale—and present the factors of success—technical and institutional—as well as the challenges for a sustainable management of the resource. After a period of poor attention to this promising energy source during the 90’s, due to low oil prices, the rising energy prices and concerns about climate change have caused a renewed interest for this technology. Therefore, technical support and financial incentives have been set up to accompany the stakeholders in this development. But renewed development induces new challenges: To date, no drop in production temperature was detected while running doublets. Indeed, most facilities that were closed were for economic reasons. Nevertheless, as the Paris basin natural heat flux does not make the geothermal resource renewable at local level on human scale, public authorities are faced with the need for its optimal and sustainable management. To achieve this goal, a system to share the data collected on operating doublets and modeling works are beginning in order to guarantee the sustainable management of the resource. |