Development of a groundwater heating and cooling scheme in a Permo-Triassic sandstone aquifer in South-West England and approach to managing risks

Birks, D., Coutts, C. A., Younger, P. L. and Parkin, G. (2015) Development of a groundwater heating and cooling scheme in a Permo-Triassic sandstone aquifer in South-West England and approach to managing risks. Geoscience in South-West England, 13(4), pp. 428-436.

Abstract

There are approximately 100 licensed groundwater heating and cooling applications in the UK, of which approximately 25% are installed in Permo-Triassic sandstone. The Permo-Triassic sandstones are extensively developed in the north of England, the midlands and to a smaller extent in the southwest, and are second only to the Chalk aquifer in terms of numbers of this type of application. In contrast to the Chalk, matrix flow is a more important component of the overall groundwater flow regime and, consequently, it is possible to predict groundwater behaviour with more confidence than for the Chalk and other aquifers with fracture-dominated flow. This equates to less uncertainty and is a significant consideration in regard to managing the overall riskinvestment profile for this type of development. Development of an open-loop groundwater system to provide an estimated 871,000 kWh heating and 1,003,250 kWh cooling per annum, respectively for a proposed custody centre at Devon and Cornwall Police HQ in Exeter highlights the potential deployment of the technology in a relatively small fault bounded block of PermoTriassic sandstone in South-West England. Development started in 2010 with an initial hydrogeological assessment and through 2012 an exploration well was constructed and subsequently tested for both abstraction and injection. Notwithstanding that the scheme is not yet fully developed, it is now licensed and the project serves as a good example of how the risk investment profile for similar projects might be managed. In addition, it highlights some specific properties of Permo-Triassic sandstones considered by the authors to be more favourable than other aquifers, including the Chalk.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Parkin, Dr Geoff and Younger, Professor Paul and Birks, David Christopher
• Authors: Birks, D., Coutts, C. A., Younger, P. L., and Parkin, G.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Systems Power and Energy
• Journal Name: Geoscience in South-West England
• Publisher: The Ussher Society
• ISSN: 2059-7339
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2015 The Ussher Society
• First Published: First published Geoscience in South-West England 13(4):428-436
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher.