Why Use Electricity When Heating and Cooling is Needed?

Sharing is Caring. Here, we share videos and pdfs of the presentations held during the Center for Geothermal Energy Research matchmaking workshop the 26th January 2023 in Oslo.

Industrial and academic CGER partners and network members met to learn to know each other so we can build stronger consortia’s, share ideas and needs, and to create relevant research and development projects. Total 14 presentations were given over the day.

An accelerated development of geothermal solutions in Norway is required. In Norway, 75 TWh/year of energy is used for heating and cooling purposes, and 68% of which are run by electric heating (NVE). These data opens up for determining the potential for a more effective use of electric energy. Technically speaking, savings of more than 35 TWh/year (?) in existing buildings is possible with deployment of ground source heat pumps. The economic potential is lower - as it depends on the internal economic requirements of the initial capex heavy investments.

Internationally, the use of underground heat can also produce electric energy for sale. This may contribute to a base load in an integrated energy system. Any energy not spent is entirely conflict free. The solutions proposed here are areal effective, local - thereby saving large Nature areas.

The freed up electric energy with a more effective use, and the locally produced thermal energy from the ground, aids the decarbonization and electrification of the whole energy sector - a necessary requirement for reaching net zero and the +1.5°C target.

In this workshop the industry, that performs energy mapping, design solutions, develop and operate geothermal systems meet up with academia. Ground source heat pumps is a mature technology, although there are still research needs. For example, how do we ensure an optimal use of existing systems, automated systems equipped with sensors and AI systems, learning systems between design-development-operation phase and between companies. Research proposals were pitched and discussed.

Acknowledgments are given to Norges Forskningsråd and the program for Koordinerings- og støtteaktivitet, Arrangementsstøtte.

There were 14 talks. Below we share pdfs and videos of the presentations.

Program