Wolken Kopf

CBUMinThermal – Mine Water Geothermal Applications in the Sydney Coal Field/Canada

CBDCPartners

  • Cape Breton Explorations
  • Cape Breton University
  • Cape Breton Development Corporation

Project Summary

Key goal of MinThermal is the commercialization of mine water based geothermal energy systems (also called earth energy systems) and the technologies needed to investigate mine pools with geothermal potential. This goal will be reached by studying, modifying, and monitoring a pilot and demonstration project in Cape Breton’s Glace Bay, where mine water geothermal energy shall be used to heat a senior citizens home. By using the sustainable energy resources, geothermal energy as the heat resource and wind energy to drive the heat pumps the project will avoid fossil fuels to heat the building. Therefore, under standard working conditions, no greenhouse gas emissions will be released by the system. Furthermore, the project will make use of a waste product (mine water), which otherwise would be discharged into the anthroposphere without further benefit for the Nova Scotian population. As the location of the project was selected to expand the project to a district heating system, a positive project result will be used to install a district heating system in Glace Bay, thus further reducing the greenhouse emissions for heating purposes.

As can be seen from the following list of work packages, the complete project will exist of research into the geothermal source (highlighted in italics) and its commercialization:

1. Research the Geothermal Resource
2. Research the available Technology
3. Investigate the necessary Capital Costs
4. Calculate the expected Operational Costs
5. Examine the Environmental Challenges
6. Investigate the potential for a geothermal district heating
7. Monitor and optimize the Utilization of the mine water geothermal energy

Deliverables of MinThermal are:

  • tools to investigate the physico-chemical behaviour of mine water in geothermal systems
  • optimized selection methods for heat exchanger or heat pump technology for mine water
  • innovative mine water tracer tests to study the flow of water in the mine pool
  • public information
  • onsite training of interested parties
Impressum