Site-specific investigations on aquifer thermal energy storage for space and process cooling
Abstract
The Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) has completed three preliminary site-specific feasibility studies that investigated aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) for reducing space and process cooling costs. Chilled water stored in an ATES system could be used to meet all or part of the process and/or space cooling loads at the three facilities investigated. Seasonal or diurnal chill ATES systems could be significantly less expensive than a conventional electrically-driven, load-following chiller system at one of the three sites, depending on the cooling water loop return temperature and presumed future electricity escalation rate. For the other two sites investigated, a chill ATES system would be economically competitive with conventional chillers if onsite aquifer characteristics were improved. Well flow rates at one of the sites were adequate, but the expected thermal recovery efficiency was too low. The reverse of this situation was found at the other site, where the thermal recovery efficiency was expected to be adequate, but well flow rates were too low.
- Publication:
-
Presented at the 26th Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering (IECE) Conference
- Pub Date:
- August 1991
- Bibcode:
- 1991iece.confR...3B
- Keywords:
-
- Air Conditioning;
- Aquifers;
- Cooling;
- Energy Storage;
- Heat Storage;
- Thermodynamic Efficiency;
- Costs;
- Feasibility Analysis;
- Energy Production and Conversion