Optimisation of thermal energy storage in abandoned flooded mine workings

热能效率和可持续性是一个重大挑战，特别是对于像苏格兰这样的国家，供暖占总能源需求的近三分之二。废弃的水雷遍布英国的广大地区，通常代表着高水平的环境和金融负债。然而，这些过去碳密集型工业的残余也提供了一个令人兴奋的机会，通过地热能生产和热能储存来开发可持续的低碳能源。该项目将制定创新的战略，以评价淹水矿井的地热潜力。由于格拉斯哥非凡的工业遗产，城市的许多地方，包括大学，都坐落在一个废弃的、被水淹没的煤矿工作的大型网络上。该项目将使用格拉斯哥大学（UoG）作为其主要案例研究。UoG拥有一个全校范围的热电联产（CHP）区域供热计划，该计划为建筑物供暖，产生很大比例的校园电力，并为UoG的碳足迹减少目标（每年20%）做出了重大贡献。目前正在努力实现当前计划的进一步碳减排，并确保为10亿多英镑的校园扩建提供低碳能源。正如当地气候所料，校园在冬季的几个月里有季节性的高热量需求。现有的热电联产系统产生的多余余热，如果能够成功地收集和储存，可能会变成一种宝贵的资源，帮助满足校园冬季的供暖需求。蓄热的一个主要挑战是需要在足够长的时间内储存足够的可用热量。由于周围地质的温暖拥抱，被淹的矿井使地下水不受地表温度的季节性变化的影响。再加上所涉及的巨大水量（数百万立方米），如果这些被淹的矿井的水文性质能够得到有力的表征，它们就为跨季节的热能储存提供了绝佳的机会。

Thermal energy efficiency and sustainability is a major challenge, particularly for countries such asScotland where heating represents nearly two thirds of overall energy demand. Abandoned floodedmines are present over vast areas of the UK and typically represent high-level environmental andfinancial liabilities. However, these remnants of our carbon-intensive industrial past also provide anexciting opportunity to develop sustainable low-carbon energy resources through geothermal energy production and thermal energy storage. This project will develop innovative strategies for evaluating the geothermal potential of flooded mine workings.Thanks to Glasgow's extraordinary industrial heritage, many parts of the city, including the University, are positioned over a large network of abandoned, flooded coal mine workings. This project will use the University of Glasgow (UoG) as its major case study. The UoG has a campus wide Combined Heat and Power (CHP) district heating scheme which heats buildings, generates a large percentage of campus electricity and makes a significant contribution to the UoG's carbon footprint reduction target (20% per year). Efforts are underway to achieve further carbon emission reductions for the current scheme and to ensure low-carbon energy for a £1 billion plus campus expansion.As to be expected with the local climate, the campus has a seasonally high heat demand in the winter months. Excess 'waste' heat generated by the existing CHP system could potentially be turned into a valuable resource to help meet campus winter heat demand if it could be successfully captured and stored. A major challenge for heat storage is the capacity required to store enough useable heat for a long enough duration. Due to the warm embrace of the surrounding geology, the flooded mine workings insulate groundwater from seasonal variations in surface temperature. Add to that the enormous volumes of water involved (several million m3), and these flooded mine workings represent a fantastic opportunity for inter-seasonal thermal energy storage if their hydrological nature can be robustly characterised.