Mapping of subsurface minewater resources against surface demands

脱碳加热和冷却，以及热存储的广泛推广是我们能源系统脱碳的最大挑战之一。供暖目前占英国能源使用的45%。大约25%的英国人口生活在废弃的煤矿上，这些煤矿拥有地热热水，这些热水可以通过热泵升级，并通过热力网络输送到家庭和企业。如果用于热能储存，矿山可以成为一个战略性的低碳载体，储存剩余的可再生电力产生的热量，消除浪费性的约束支付。在项目的最初设计阶段，必须考虑矿井水热资源和区域供热，以便使需求与矿井水资源提供加热、冷却和蓄热的能力相平衡。这个博士将调查映射对表面的需求和供应的地下机会的潜力。该项目将利用苏格兰现有的热量需求地图，重点关注特定的案例研究领域，以开发真正综合的地表和地下方法来开发矿产资源。学生将建立一个耦合的表面和地下地理信息系统，以研究对评估，优化和热资源管理，热量调节和能源总体规划的影响。学生将加入HotScot网络：一个学术-行业联盟，旨在将苏格兰的采矿遗产从负债转变为资产：为家庭和企业提供低成本，低碳的供暖，制冷和蓄热。

Decarbonising heating and cooling, and the wide rollout of thermal storage are some of the greatest remaining challenges to decarbonising our energy system. Heating currently accounts for 45% of UK's energy use. Approximately 25% of the UK population live above abandoned coal mines that host geothermally heated water, which can be upgraded by heat pumps and delivered to homes and businesses through heat networks. If used for thermal energy storage, mines could become a strategic low-carbon vector, storing heat generated from surplus renewable electricity, eliminating wasteful constraint payments. Consideration of minewater thermal resources and district heat in general must occur at the very initial design stages of a project so that demands are balanced with the ability of a minewater resource to supply heating, cooling and thermal storage. This PhD will investigate the potential for mapping the subsurface opportunity against the surface demands and supplies. The project will use the existing mapping of heat demands in Scotland, focussing in on specific case study areas, to develop a truly integrated surface and subsurface approach to developing mine resources. The student will build a coupled surface and subsurface GIS to examine implications for appraisal, optimisation and management of thermal resources, regulation of heat, and energy masterplanning. The student will join the HotScot Network: an academic-industry consortium aiming to transform Scotland's mining legacy from a liability into an asset: providing low cost, low carbon heating, cooling and thermal storage to homes and businesses.