2016 Working Group 8 Report - Direct Use of Geothermal Energy. Katharina Link May 2017

Transcription

1 2016 Working Group 8 Report - Direct Use of Geothermal Energy Katharina Link May 2017

2 Disclaimer IEA Geothermal do not warrant the validity of any information or the views and findings expressed by the authors in this report. Neither IEA Geothermal (IEA-GIA) nor IEA shall be held liable, in any way, for use of, or reliance on, any information contained in this report. Katharina Link 1, 2016 Working Group 8 Report, IEA Geothermal, May Rebstrasse 3, 8500 Frauenfeld, Switzerland. info@geo-future.expert

3 1. Introduction Figure 1 Growing tropical fruit and fish farming using geothermal tunnel water at the Tropenhaus Frutigen, located in the middle of the Western Swiss Alps (Lötschberg base tunnel). (Courtesy of Tropenhaus Frutigen AG). Geothermal water has been used for millennia for various heating and bathing applications. During the last several decades the use of geothermal energy for a range of heating purposes has become more and more important worldwide, and this has resulted in dramatically increased use. Many applications use geothermal energy; heating buildings, raising plants in greenhouses, drying crops, fish farming, snow melting, bathing, therapeutic use, and industrial processes. Over the last decade, cooling using geothermal energy is also becoming more important. In 2013, Working Group 8 ( Direct Use of Geothermal Energy ) was restructured. The Working Group members defined four new Tasks and continued with one from earlier work: A) New and Innovative Geothermal Direct Use Applications, B) Communication, C) Guidelines on Geothermal Energy Statistics, D) Guidelines on Statistics for Geothermal Heat Pump Applications and E) Design Configuration and Engineering Standards (continued). The Geothermal Direct Use Working Group also includes large innovative heat pump applications including smart thermal low temperature grids combined with underground storage. The Working Group s mission is to provide quality information, communication and knowledge transfer to mitigate the barriers to geothermal direct use in order to enhance deployment. The main objectives are to collaborate, cooperate, share knowledge, and boost awareness thereby increasing the use of existing technologies. 1

4 Current participants of Working Group 8 are France, Germany, Iceland, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States of America. Geothermie-Schweiz, the Swiss Geothermal Society, is the Operating Agent. Katharina Link, CEO of Geo-Future GmbH, Switzerland, is the leader of the Working Group. 1.1 Tasks There are five Tasks, described below Task A New and Innovative Geothermal Direct Use Applications (Task Leader: Brian Carey, GNS Science, New Zealand) Geothermal direct use technologies are, in general, mature and competitive. One current focus is the development of innovative applications to open up new utilization possibilities, to enhance efficiency, and to reduce costs. Smart cities and energy grids are becoming more and more important particularly in Europe. There is a trend towards larger geothermal heat pump systems (Ground Source Heat Pumps - GSHPs), sometimes combined with other energy sources (e.g., solar thermal energy) and usually incorporating underground energy storage. In the agricultural and industrial sectors there is great potential for new and innovative direct use applications. In many countries in the world, cooling using geothermal energy is becoming at least as important as heating. Figure 2 Wairakei Prawn Farm uses geothermal heat to grow fresh water prawns. The energy comes from geothermal water discharged from Wairakei Power Station Task B Communication (Task Leader: Katharina Link, Geo-Future GmbH, Switzerland) Although the worldwide technical and economic potential of geothermal direct use applications is enormous, knowledge amongst the general public, politicians and decision-makers is generally lacking. The level of awareness varies widely. In some countries, like many in Europe, the potential of GSHP systems for heating residential houses is very well known, but the fact that there are many other applications much less so. Even in a country like New Zealand, which has obvious potential, the many direct uses for geothermal energy are poorly known compared to geothermal power generation. Clearly, to boost geothermal direct use and to enhance deployment, communication is essential. Activities are concentrating on collecting available 2

5 information from member countries and cooperating organizations. The exchange of experiences is fundamental to identify barriers and opportunities, and to optimise communication activities Task C Guidelines for Geothermal Energy Statistics (Task Leader: Jonas Ketilsson, Orkustofnun, Iceland) Geothermal energy statistics, especially direct geothermal use statistics, have been a major point for discussion. The Working Group members decided to investigate the reporting of energy statistics. The aim was to overview collection of geothermal energy statistics internationally by various agencies, offices, organizations and associations. The work was seeking to enable successful exchange and interpretation of energy statistics, to increase reliability of the data collected and to decrease fragmentation. A report, entitled International Collection of Geothermal Energy Statistics Towards reducing fragmentation and improving consistency was published by Orkustofnun in February In the report, the datasets of IEA Geothermal, European Geothermal Energy Council (EGEC) and IGA are referred to as industry statistics. The industry statistics are not consistent and differ from the official statistics provided by IEA, OECD, UNECE, EUROSTAT and the UN. The industry statistics are fragmented, although consistent within each respective association. With time, databases have been developed and questionnaires established by each association. In many cases, the data collection is similar, but often there are differences that result in the data not being interoperable, so when numbers are compared from one association to another, differences will be found which can be difficult if not impossible to resolve. The work of seeking to regularise data collection is conducted within the scope of the Geothermal ERA-NET supported by the European Commission. Based on the 2015 report, the next task is to develop guidelines for geothermal energy statistics. This task was created for this purpose Task D Statistics for Geothermal Heat Pump Applications (Task Leader: Yoonho Song, Korean Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM), Republic of Korea). Different load factors are applicable to various types of direct utilization, such as heating a residential house, an office building, or a green house, but different load factors are not usually considered when estimating GSHP capacity factors of different applications. In smaller applications, as opposed to large-scale district or other heating systems, flow rate monitoring is not often undertaken and the thermal loads for GSHPs are not determined. There is therefore significant uncertainty in the statistics for geothermal energy use in GSHPs, at both a national and global level. In addition, many countries do not separate the statistics for cooling with GSHPs from heating, which causes further uncertainty in the statistics. Consequently, Task D was initiated in 2013 to determine a method for estimating geothermal energy utilization with GSHPs as accurately as possible. If the statistics and the standard load pattern of each application type are determined, it might be possible to establish a recommended method, or develop a reference table for calculating GSHP statistics. 3

6 1.1.5 Task E Design Configuration and Engineering Standards (Task Leader: open position) The Scope of this Task is to collect, characterize and exchange standard design and practice information for applications, with the goal of minimizing the engineering related input. The main issues are quality, reliability of operation, long term efficiency, sustainability, and cost reduction achievable through standardized procedures. Examples of successful cooperation are the dissemination of experience with quality certificated ground source heat exchangers, and the results from long-term monitoring of direct use installations. Task E also includes the collection and distribution of a list of national and international standards, engineering practice and other relevant documents. 2. Progress in 2016 Working Group 8 organised two working group meetings in conjunction with ExCo Meetings. The working group meetings took pace in Cuernavaca, Mexico, in April 2016 and in Munich, Germany, in September Tasks A and B organised and conducted three large events in 2016 to share knowledge and information about innovative applications, and to boost the awareness and deployment of geothermal direct use (see Section 3). Important progress was also made regarding statistics for geothermal direct use and heat pumps. In this context, the IEA Geothermal Trend Report questionnaire could be updated. 3. Outputs Working Group 8 conducted two large workshops and one networking reception. The first two-day workshop Opportunities and Benefits of Geothermal Direct Use towards a clean, sustainable and cost-efficient energy supply targeted Mexican and Latin American experts, project developers and high level decision makers and was linked to the ExCo Meeting in Cuernavaca (Mexico). The interest of those countries in geothermal direct use and heat pump applications has grown exponentially in the last few years. An international networking reception with a series of presentations on Renewable Thermal Facts and Figures was conducted as a side event of the Geothermal Resources Council Annual Meeting (GRC) in Sacramento (USA), on 25 th October Organisation partners were the US Department of Energy and Women in Geothermal (WING). A further one-day workshop on the Opportunities and Benefits of Geothermal Direct Use towards a clean, sustainable and cost-efficient energy supply was organised together with the Asian Geothermal Symposium and took place in ChiangMai (Thailand) on the 17 th of November A huge number of high quality presentations were given at the two workshops and the networking reception. They are all available as PDF documents on the IEA Geothermal website. 4

7 4. Highlights The two most important highlights of Working Group 8 have been the two large workshops in Mexico and Thailand on the opportunities and benefits of geothermal direct use. In total, more than 300 participants from all over the world attended the events of the Working Group. Figure 3 Participants in the Working Group 8 workshops in Mexico and Thailand. A third highlight is the remarkable progress towards a best practise and guideline for the collection of statistical data of geothermal direct use and heat pump applications. 5. Future Activities To fulfil the mission of the Working Group, further workshops will be organised in the next two years. In 2017, a workshop on geothermal statistics of direct use and heat pump applications will be conducted in Florence in conjunction with the ExCo Meeting of IEA Geothermal. A further workshop will be organised together with the Vietnam Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. It will focus on Geothermal Energy Development for a Green Economy. The guidelines for the collection of statistical data for geothermal direct use and heat pump applications will be prepared. 5

8 6. References All presentations, papers and reports of the Working Group 8 are available at the website of IEA Geothermal, at 6

9 Executive Secretary IEA Geothermal C/ - GNS Science Wairakei Research Centre Ph: +64 IEA Geothermal 8211 E: iea-giasec@gns.cri.nz 7