A Case Study of the Integration of Mine water into Smart Cooling and Heating Network systems

Minewater presents a significant opportunity as an energy source and store in the UK and elsewhere. This research investigates the feasibility and factors necessary to successfully integrate minewater into smart cooling and heating network systems that can support acceleration towards the UK’s net zero target. Heat recovery from minewater offers a low?carbon source of energy for either heating or cooling and can provide thermal storage, potentially valuable for inter-seasonal demand. The work builds on a feasibility study in Barnsley, Yorkshire, which explored the design of a heat network that integrates heat, power, and mobility and uses waste heat from a glass factory. This work focusses on analyzing the subsurface factors including flowrate, yield, mine void volume, and interconnectivity, which affect the flow and consequently thermal behavior of the available minewater. A 3D model using Petrel and Groundhog have been created combining data from the available boreholes and Coal Authority maps to characterise the subsurface conditions.