The Japanese conglomerate and Osaka Metropolitan University test an Aquifer Thermal energy storage system that immediately uses 10,000 m3 of groundwater stored at 5 ° C in a cooling pit. It is intended to store renewable energy and to produce cooling for air conditioning in the summer or heating before the winter.
Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES) is a form of underground thermal energy storage technology to store intermittent wind and solar energy for seasonal thermal storage and ensure heating and cooling for district heating or large buildings.
However, doubts about its technical and economic feasibility still prevent this storage technology from reaching commercial maturity, although various pilot projects are being developed worldwide.
One is the ATES system that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Thermal Systems, Ltd., a unit of the Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), started this week together with the Osaka Metropolitan University (OMU) on the Osaka City Maishima Sports Center for Disabled.
The proposed ATES system is intended to store renewable energy and to produce cooling for air conditioning in the summer or heating before the winter. It uses, for the first time worldwide according to Mitsubishi, an energy absorption and delivery technology that makes thermal storage and discharge functionality of the short cycle possible, making flexible circuit between cold and heat storage possible.
In Ates systems, renewable electricity is used by wind and solar energy to pump water from underground reservoirs and to heat or to cool water on the surface during the summer or winter, respectively. Mitsubishi mainly used gravel and groundwater stored in aquifers deep under the ground as a heat -oriented tank. Heat or cooling can be pumped out with a small amount of stored renewable electricityAccording to the company.
“The newly developed operating system has a mode that automatically switches to the optimum operation, depending on the availability of the excess energy and underground water temperature,” the company said in a statement. “Moreover, due to the absorption of a function that optimizes cold storage work in real time on the basis of fluctuations in the market prices of electricity and the volume of the surplus power. This makes energy -saving effect possible that reduces electricity consumption during cooling, while effectively use of renewable energy is used.”
The Demonstration test started yesterday to use 10,000 m3 of groundwater directly stored at 5 ° C.. This was made possible by a multi -layered seasonal storage function with which cool water of lower temperature can be stored in existing underground cold water masses.
De Omu explained that the system is expected to have one Load/discharge efficiency purpose of 70% when the upper limit of the pump water temperature used for direct cooling is 13 C. “This system adds two new functions to the conventional ATEs: Save excess electricity of renewable energy in cold wells at 5 ° C using a heat pump heating source based on real -time information about the amount of electricity; and cool the electricity immediately with groundwater stored at 5 ° C“Explained it further.
MHI Thermal Systems is responsible for operating the system and the centrifugal cooling machines for heat pump type. It is currently also designing an operating system that uses excess energy efficiently.
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