Thermal performance of medium-to-high-temperature aquifer thermal energy storage systems

Abstract Aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) has been confirmed to be an effective thermal energy storage method and medium-to-high-temperature (MHT) ATES is receiving renewed interest. To illustrate the thermal performance of MHT ATES systems in the presence of natural regional groundwater flow and facilitate the future implementation of such systems, simulations including the effect of thermal dispersion are performed for a typical confined ATES system that consists of doublet wells and is operated in cyclic mode. The simulation model is validated using experimental data. The sensitivity of the system performance to hydrogeological and design/operation parameters is assessed using the thermal front, thermal breakthrough time, characteristic tilting time, and thermal recovery ratio. Based on the simulation results, the rules governing the influence of these parameters are presented and feasible storage site conditions and design/operation parameters for MHT ATES application are suggested.