Influence of seasonal meteorological change on seasonal thermal energy storage in a shallow aquifer

Abstract

Aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) is recognized as the storage of local and seasonal thermal energy, such as summer heat, winter chill, and industrial waste heat. ATES closed by water proof walls (Closed ATES, CATES) prevents the spread of water quality pollution caused by thermal, biological and chemical change. Especially, the use of ATES in a shallow aquifer will provide low construction costs, reduction of heat transfer loss and easy maintenance besides seasonal extraction of stored thermal energy. ATES in a shallow aquifer, however, should be sensitive to seasonal meteorological changes, so that it involves many uncertainties for seasonal thermal energy storage.
This paper describes characteristics of CATES in a shallow aquifer which is subjected to seasonal meteorological changes, by a numerical computation model.