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Full-Scale HT-ATES Tests Demonstrate that Current Guidelines Considerably Overestimate Sand Production Risks in Deeper Unconsolidated Aquifers
- Publisher: European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers
- Source: Conference Proceedings, 1st Geoscience & Engineering in Energy Transition Conference, Nov 2020, Volume 2020, p.1 - 6
Abstract
Summary
The majority of the heat demand in Europe is supplied by the burning of fossil fuels. To reduce CO2-emissions in the heating sector, sustainable alternatives for heat production are increasingly applied (geothermal, solar and residual heat). However, the heat availability of such sources does typically not match with the heat demand in time. Storage of surplus heat can solve this mismatch, thereby optimizing the use of sustainable heat sources. High Temperature (>30ºC) Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (HT-ATES) is considered a promising large-scale heat storage technique. Within the GEOTHERMICA-HEATSTORE research project, a demonstration HT-ATES project was realized in the Netherlands, in an unconsolidated aquifer at 380 m depth. For Dutch ATES systems, the ‘NVOE-guideline’ is used to determine the maximum flow velocity in the aquifer around the well, to limit sand production. This limits the flow rate of the well. The HT-ATES well test results demonstrate that, at this depth, considerably higher flow velocities (factor 3.8) can be applied in unconsolidated aquifers than NVOEguidelines suggest. Based on the field results, a depth-correction factor for the NVOE-guideline is proposed. These findings may have a major positive impact on the potential of HT-ATES (and other) wells in unconsolidated aquifers at larger depths (>150m).
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