Geothermal Energy Will Soon Heat Cities
A new geothermal energy park will investigate energy storing and exploitation
The possibilities for exploiting the geothermal energy that is stored in the earth and waterways are multiplying in phase with geothermal energy research. Although geothermal energy has mainly been seen as a heating option for detached houses and sparsely-populated areas, it is also extremely suitable for heating and cooling large buildings, even in densely populated areas. In Sweden and Norway, for example, many blocks of flats, factories, schools and hospitals are heated and cooled using geothermal energy. The blocks of flats built by Lakea Oy in the district of Suvilahti in Vaasa, Finland are also heated by energy that is stored in the soil.
“A single collection pipe system is no longer sufficient for heating and cooling large buildings; instead, geothermal energy is collected using multiple collection systems which are regulated by a single control centre,” says Research Director Erkki Hiltunen from the Faculty of Technology at University of Vaasa.
Hiltunen states that in the near future geothermal energy, which is a hundred per cent renewable, will be one of the most important methods for heating cities.
“We need to come up with new kinds of energy solutions for our energy-greedy cities. Below city buildings and asphalted surfaces there is a great deal of urban geothermal energy which could be utilised in heating and cooling cities,” Hiltunen says.
In the summer, the dark surface of asphalt efficiently absorbs the heat of the sun, which is then stored in the layers of soil under it. Similarly, the layers of sediment under waterways seem to store energy in exceptionally great amounts.
The energy stored in the sediment of the bay in the housing fair area of the Suvilahti district in Vaasa has been utilised now for some years with a collection system developed by Mateve Oy. A larger scale exploitation of these new kinds of geothermal energy sources, however, requires further research.
A Unique Geothermal Energy Park
A unique geothermal energy park is about to be built in the Vaasa University campus, where in the same area the build-up of geothermal energy in sea water, the sediment layers under water, the bedrock, the soil under the trees, shrubs and other plants, and in asphalt-covered soil can be studied and compared. This park, designed by Vaasa Energy Institute (VEI), will be one of the research platforms for energy technology which will be utilised in various research projects together with companies within the industry. The University of Vaasa, Vaasa University of Applied Sciences and NOVIA University of Applied Sciences will participate in building the research platform as VEI’s background organisations.
On the basis of VEI’s preliminary design, the Swedish company Värmex Ab has been commissioned as consultant to plan the construction of various heat collection systems in the geothermal energy park area, and this work is currently underway. Before these collection systems are built, temperature measurements will be made to determine the layers in which energy is stored and the way the soil behaves.
“We will be ready to begin temperature measurements in different parts of the area as soon as next summer,” says Hiltunen.
The Renewable Efficient Energy II Conference, held from 21st to 22nd March, will provide more information about the exploitation of and research on geothermal energy globally, and about the geothermal energy park to be built in the University of Vaasa campus.
More than 1,000 experts from the energy industry will get together during the Vaasa EnergyWeek taking place between 19th and 22nd March 2012 in Vaasa. The Vaasa region is the home of EnergyVaasa, the most important centre of energy technology in the Nordic Countries. EnergyVaasa is organising the event in cooperation with its partners Pohjanmaan Expo, the Ostrobothnia Chamber of Commerce, the Regional Council of Ostrobothnia, Technology Centre Oy Merinova Ab/Energy technology cluster programme (OSKE), Vaasa Energy Institute (VEI), Vaasa Region Development Company VASEK and the Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment for Ostrobothnia and South Ostrobothnia. The main sponsors of the EnergyWeek are ABB, Wärtsilä and EPV Energy Ltd.
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