Investigations into the First Operational Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage System in Wallonia (Belgium): What Can Potentially Be Expected?

In the context of energy transition, new and renovated buildings often include heating and/or air conditioning energy-saving technologies based on sustainable energy sources, such as groundwater heat pumps with aquifer thermal energy storage. A new aquifer thermal energy storage system was designed and is under construction in the city of Liege, Belgium, along the Meuse River. This system will be the very first to operate in Wallonia (southern Belgium) and should serve as a reference for future shallow geothermal developments in the region. The targeted alluvial aquifer reservoir was thoroughly characterized using geophysics, pumping tests, and dye and heat tracer tests. A 3D groundwater flow heterogeneous numerical model coupled to heat transport was then developed, automatically calibrated with the state-of-the-art pilot points method, and used for simulating and assessing the future system efficiency. A transient simulation was run over a 25 year-period. The potential thermal impact on the aquifer, based on thermal needs from the future building, was simulated at its full capacity in continuous mode and quantified. While the results show some thermal feedback within the wells of the aquifer thermal energy storage system and heat loss to the aquifer, the thermal affected zone in the aquifer extends up to 980 m downstream of the building and the system efficiency seems suitable for long-term thermal energy production.