Thermal Energy Storage (TES) is crucial for an efficient energy supply and achieving a low-carbon energy balance. TES provides flexible storage capacities and cycles, serving as a cross-sector technology that integrates heating, cooling, and electricity.
This session is dedicated to Underground Thermal Energy Storage (UTES) technologies, their performance and engineering, and new insights into related heat transport processes in the subsurface. In particular, the focus is on Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES), Borehole Thermal Energy Storage (BTES), Mine Thermal Energy Storage (MTES) and related ground-based variants such as pit storage, cavern storage and artificial water-gravel storage basins. This session aims to overcome technical obstacles concerning the design and sustainable operation of TES. We want to improve our understanding of any UTES-related thermal, hydraulic and other environmental effects.
In a broader context, we invite contributions that explore ways to enhance the social acceptance of UTES and integrate various renewable energy sources, such as geothermal, solar, and waste heat, into UTES technologies. This session aims to provide an overview of current and future research in the field, encompassing any temporal or spatial scale. Accurate characterisation of subsurface flow and heat transport, based on observations of induced or natural variations in the thermal regime, is essential in both research and practice. We seek contributions that offer new insights into experimental design advances, reports from novel field observations, and demonstrations of sequential or coupled modelling concepts. Key focus areas include the seasonal and long-term development of thermal and mechanical conditions in aquifers, heat transfer across aquifer boundaries, and the role of groundwater and geothermal energy in UTES. These aspects are crucial for predicting the long-term performance of heat and cold storage and production, as well as for integration into urban planning and policy making. We also invite hydrogeological studies that use heat as a natural or anthropogenic tracer to enhance thermal response testing or improve our understanding of relevant transport processes in aquifers.