| Title | Research and Utilisation of Geothermal Resources in Switzerland: Achievements and Outlook |
|---|---|
| Authors | Martin Brunner, Harald L. Gorhan & Ladislaus Rybach |
| Year | 1999 |
| Conference | European Geothermal Conference |
| Keywords | Heat production, statistics, geothermal research, utilisation techniques, Switzerland |
| Abstract | The geothermal R & D work in Switzerland is at present concentrated on the development of a Hot-Dry-Rock (or Deep Heat Mining) plant in the city of Basle and on technical I economical improvements of vertical ground coupled (borehole) heat exchangers. This concerns both the optimisation of drilling techniques for holes of about 500 m in depth as well as the development of new types of more efficient vertical borehole heat exchangers. Concerning the utilisation of geothermal resources, a considerable increase in the variety of geothermal applications for space heating and domestic warm water production has taken place over the past years. Aside from the very low cost of fuel oil, this astonishing development is clearly visible from heat pump sale statistics, and was also confxmed by a recent inquiry undertaken by the Swiss Geothermal Association. According to this information, nearly 50 % of all heat pumps sold in Switzerland are installed in geothermal heating systems (i.e. as ground-coupled heat pumps). In 1997, the total heat produced by geothermal installations amounted to 599 GWh (including the heat pumps production) where the geothermal portion was 396 GWh. The corresponding figures for 1990 were 316 GWb and 211 GWh, respectively. This means an increase of 88 % over seven years, or an average annual increment of more than 12 %. |