| Abstract |
Subject: Geothermal Re-use of coal mining infrastructures and mine water in hard coal mining in the Ruhr area / Germany An important aspect of implementing the Energiewende in Germany does not only consist in renewable power generation but also in regenerative heat production. Therefore the extension and increased use of geothermal energies is one of the ambitious objectives of the Energiewende. In this context, the base load capacity of geothermal energies offers great advantages. In addition to the heat utilization by shallow and deep geothermal energies the re-use of mining infrastructures show further development opportunities for the extraction of geothermal heat. When using geothermal energies generated by coal mining plants, heat is produced by facilities whose original function was not established in the production of geothermal energies in the first place. The geothermal reuse of coal mines is an interesting regional approach as part of the implementation of the Energiewende policy. The long mining tradition in the federal state of North Rhine Westphalia, the extensive expertise in the fields of mining, drilling technologies, heat distribution and power plant construction can also be applied for geothermal issues. For example former pits can be equipped with closed heat exchangers or former power supply lines can be transformed into terrestrial heat probes as well. An additional variety of use is the direct and indirect utilization of mine water, whose temperature ranges in decommissioned coal mines between 20°C and 40°C. In the Ruhr region approximately 80 million m³ of mine water is heaved annually. This enormous potential needs to be beneficially exploited by means of innovative technologies and creative projects. This lecture gives an overview of the potentials in the use of geothermal energies provided by former mining facilities and presents some best-practice-projects which show the various utilization of geothermal energies (examples for these projects are not chosen yet, but in the end of 2014 can be called). Furthermore additional scientific activities will be presented with regard to the future heat mining and possible variations of heat storage. |