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Solar district heating with underground thermal energy storage: Pathways to commercial viability in North America

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  • Reed, A.L.
  • Novelli, A.P.
  • Doran, K.L.
  • Ge, S.
  • Lu, N.
  • McCartney, J.S.

Abstract

Underground Thermal Energy Storage (UTES) has emerged in both specific applications and within energy policy literature as a promising technology for meeting thermal loads with locally collected and stored solar energy, as well as several other potential applications, such as time-shifting of grid-based wind and solar power to better align variable generation with loads. In Europe, UTES systems have experienced increased deployment in connection with district heating systems. But despite this academic attention and several demonstration projects, the commercial market viability of UTES systems has yet to be established in North America, and the finance world uses different conceptions of viability than engineering or academic studies. This study explores, through the conventions of finance and risk-mitigation, what capital costs North American UTES systems would need to exhibit to achieve market viability; which is to say, the investment cost at which a UTES system represents an attractive investment when compared with natural gas-based systems for the provision of residential space heating.

Suggested Citation

  • Reed, A.L. & Novelli, A.P. & Doran, K.L. & Ge, S. & Lu, N. & McCartney, J.S., 2018. "Solar district heating with underground thermal energy storage: Pathways to commercial viability in North America," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 1-13.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:126:y:2018:i:c:p:1-13
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2018.03.019
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sadeghi, Habibollah & Jalali, Ramin & Singh, Rao Martand, 2024. "A review of borehole thermal energy storage and its integration into district heating systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    2. Mengting Jiang & Camilo Rindt & David M. J. Smeulders, 2022. "Optimal Planning of Future District Heating Systems—A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-38, September.
    3. Saloux, Etienne & Candanedo, José A., 2021. "Model-based predictive control to minimize primary energy use in a solar district heating system with seasonal thermal energy storage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 291(C).
    4. Formhals, Julian & Feike, Frederik & Hemmatabady, Hoofar & Welsch, Bastian & Sass, Ingo, 2021. "Strategies for a transition towards a solar district heating grid with integrated seasonal geothermal energy storage," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    5. Dahash, Abdulrahman & Ochs, Fabian & Janetti, Michele Bianchi & Streicher, Wolfgang, 2019. "Advances in seasonal thermal energy storage for solar district heating applications: A critical review on large-scale hot-water tank and pit thermal energy storage systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(C), pages 296-315.
    6. Abokersh, Mohamed Hany & Vallès, Manel & Cabeza, Luisa F. & Boer, Dieter, 2020. "A framework for the optimal integration of solar assisted district heating in different urban sized communities: A robust machine learning approach incorporating global sensitivity analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 267(C).
    7. Tsvetkov, Nikolay Aleksandrovich & Krivoshein, Ujriy Olegovich & Tolstykh, Aleksandr Vital’yevich & Khutornoi, Andrey Nikolaevich & Boldyryev, Stanislav, 2020. "The calculation of solar energy used by hot water systems in permafrost region: An experimental case study for Yakutia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    8. Dahash, Abdulrahman & Ochs, Fabian & Tosatto, Alice, 2021. "Techno-economic and exergy analysis of tank and pit thermal energy storage for renewables district heating systems," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 1358-1379.
    9. Anders E. Carlsson, 2020. "Coarse-Grained Model of Underground Thermal Energy Storage Applied to Efficiency Optimization," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-20, April.

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