| Title | The EC REMINING-lowex project in Heerlen the Netherlands: development of a geothermal Mine water pilot project to a full scale hybrid sustainable energy infrastructure Minewater 2.0 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Verhoeven, Willems, Harcouët-Menou, De Boever, Hiddes, Op ’t Veld, Demollin-Schneiders |
| Year | 2013 |
| Conference | European Geothermal Conference |
| Keywords | Geothermal energy, mine water; smart heat and cold grid, energy storage. |
| Abstract | For the last 10 years numerous research and commercial initiatives have been undertaken in Europe in relation to development of the low temperature resources in coal mining fields. One of the most successful of them is the mine water project in Heerlen, the Netherlands, where a low-temperature district heating system was launched in operation in October 2008, under the European Interreg IIIB NWE programme. Other projects are carried out in Germany, Spain, France and Russia. Continuation of research on utilization of geothermal energy from abandoned coal mines is one of the goals of the 6th Framework Program project EC REMINING-lowex (Redevelopment of European Mining Areas into Sustainable Communities by Integrating Supply and Demand Side based on Low Exergy Principles). In this project are participating four local communities from the Netherlands, Slovenia, Poland and Bulgaria. The main goal is to demonstrate the use of locally available low valued renewable energy sources, specifically water from abandoned mines for heating and cooling of buildings. The system is based on low exergy principles and is facilitated by a fully integrated design of buildings, building services and energy conversion principles. The mine water project in Heerlen is now being upgraded from a straight forward pilot system to a smart grid in heating and cooling with a full scale hybrid sustainable energy structure called Mine Water 2.0. We provide with 4 new connections in 2013 ¡V 2014. In 2015 in total 500.000 m2 floor area will be provided with mine water, which has a CO2 emission reduction of 65% on heating and cooling for these connections. The Mine Water 2.0 system will become an essential part of the Sustainable Energy Structure Plan of Heerlen which reaches out towards 2040 and has the following landmarks: „h Application of cluster grids for energy exchange between buildings. „h Application of the mine water grid for energy exchange between cluster grids and supply and disposal of heat and cold to and from the mine reservoirs. „h Poly generation e.g. bio-CHP and solar energy (PV and thermal), feed in of local available industrial waste heat and cooling towers for peak cold demands. „h Enlargement of the hydraulic and thermal capacity of the mine water grid through improving well pumps, pressure boosting systems and reuse of the existing mine water return pipe for additional supply and disposal of hot mine water. „h Fully automatic and demand-driven double-acting supply of heat and cold to buildings through usage of pressure buffer systems at the extraction wells and sophisticated injections valves at the injection wells. „h All mine water installations (buildings, clusters, wells) are equipped with sophisticated process control units that communicate with a Central Monitoring System (CMS) that connects these geographically dispersed subsystems. A very new application in the building environment. The development of the Mine Water 2.0 structure is in progress at this very moment. The development takes place within a sound business case where the Mine Water Corporation is in the position to present competitive offers to building owners to attach to the mine water system. In Q1/2 2013 the first cluster with 2 new building connections will be ready. In June 2013 at the congress we will be able to share the first experiences. |