Aquifer thermal energy storage costs with a seasonal chill source

Technical Report · Sat Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1983

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6533616· OSTI ID:6533616

Brown, D R

The cost of energy supplied by an aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) system from a seasonal chill source was investigated. Costs were estimated for point demand and residential development ATES systems using the computer code AQUASTOR. AQUASTOR was developed at PNL specifically for the economic analysis of ATES systems. In this analysis the cost effect of varying a wide range of technical and economic parameters was examined. Those parameters exhibiting a substantial influence on the costs of ATES delivered chill were: system size; well flow rate; transmission distance; source temperature; well depth; and cost of capital. The effects of each parameter are discussed. Two primary constraints of ATES chill systems are the extremely low energy density of the storage fluid and the prohibitive costs of lengthy pipelines for delivering chill to residential users. This economic analysis concludes that ATES-delivered chill will not be competitive for residential cooling applications. The otherwise marginal attractiveness of ATES chill systems vanishes under the extremely low load factors characteristic of residential cooling systems. (LCL)

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 6533616
• Report Number(s): PNL-4587; ON: DE83006700
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

25 ENERGY STORAGE
250600* -- Energy Storage-- Thermal
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320101 -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Residential Buildings-- (-1987)
A CODES
AQUIFERS
BUILDINGS
COLD STORAGE
COMPUTER CODES
COOLING
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
ECONOMICS
ENERGY STORAGE
EQUIPMENT
HEAT STORAGE
RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
SEASONAL THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE
SENSIBLE HEAT STORAGE
STORAGE
THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE EQUIPMENT