TY - JOUR
T1 - Identifying potential geothermal reservoirs in denmark
AU - Mathiesen, Anders
AU - Nielsen, Lars Henrik
AU - Bidstrup, Torben
PY - 2010/7/7
Y1 - 2010/7/7
N2 - Concerns about climate change have led to increased interest in
geothermal energy as one way of reducing the consumption of fossil fuels
and thus limit CO2 emissions. Use of geothermal energy is
based on well-established technologies, a high degree of security of
supply, and little visual or noise inconvenience. More than one hundred
plants have been established in Europe. There is a large potential for
using geothermal energy from the Danish subsurface, as first pointed out
by Balling (1976). Geothermal energy is highly suitable for district
heating systems and is expected to cover a large part of the demand for
district heating in the future. Two Danish geothermal plants, the
Thisted plant in northern Jylland and the Margretheholm demonstration
plant near Copenhagen (Fig. 1), have shown that it is possible to
produce large amounts of warm water for district heating. Only 5–10% of
the total energy output from the plant is used to extract the heat from
the subsurface by pumping warm formation water to the surface and
returning it to the subsurface in a closed system. The plants use
absorption warmth pumps, which need steam and hence give rise to
consumption of (fossil) fuel. Both Danish plants have two wells, a
production well and an injection well in which the cooled formation
water is returned to the geological reservoir at about 1 km away from
the production point, in order to avoid mixing of warm and cold water
(Fig. 2). Geothermal energy can also be used for electricity production,
but Danish subsurface tem-peratures are currently not believed to be
sufficiently high to produce electricity directly.
AB - Concerns about climate change have led to increased interest in
geothermal energy as one way of reducing the consumption of fossil fuels
and thus limit CO2 emissions. Use of geothermal energy is
based on well-established technologies, a high degree of security of
supply, and little visual or noise inconvenience. More than one hundred
plants have been established in Europe. There is a large potential for
using geothermal energy from the Danish subsurface, as first pointed out
by Balling (1976). Geothermal energy is highly suitable for district
heating systems and is expected to cover a large part of the demand for
district heating in the future. Two Danish geothermal plants, the
Thisted plant in northern Jylland and the Margretheholm demonstration
plant near Copenhagen (Fig. 1), have shown that it is possible to
produce large amounts of warm water for district heating. Only 5–10% of
the total energy output from the plant is used to extract the heat from
the subsurface by pumping warm formation water to the surface and
returning it to the subsurface in a closed system. The plants use
absorption warmth pumps, which need steam and hence give rise to
consumption of (fossil) fuel. Both Danish plants have two wells, a
production well and an injection well in which the cooled formation
water is returned to the geological reservoir at about 1 km away from
the production point, in order to avoid mixing of warm and cold water
(Fig. 2). Geothermal energy can also be used for electricity production,
but Danish subsurface tem-peratures are currently not believed to be
sufficiently high to produce electricity directly.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77954119423&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.34194/geusb.v20.4890
DO - 10.34194/geusb.v20.4890
M3 - Article
SN - 2597-2154
SN - 1904-4666
SN - 1604-8156
VL - 20
SP - 19
EP - 22
JO - Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Bulletin
JF - Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Bulletin
ER -