Site Finding Process Guideline for Locating Deep Geothermal Plants Within Existing District Heating Network Areas – Case Study for the German Ruhr Metropolitan Region

Abstract

To increase the rate of renewable thermal energy, geothermal energy systems need to be integrated stepwise into conventional district heating networks. For this a spatial decision support tool is needed which can be used by decision makers of various fields. This paper provides such a tool. A guideline is presented while parallel a case study is implemented for the Ruhr metropolitan area in Germany. Spatial surface and subsurface data need to be processed in a graphical information system. To achieve a suggestion for decision makers the process needs to be done multiple times at different geothermal temperature levels. A weighting system is also necessary to obtain a priority order for the potential drill sites for the geothermal energy systems. The results are maps with categorized and class ranked potential drill sites for each possible geological horizon (or reservoir) and for each temperature level. This paper concludes with an exemplary analysis for the city of Gelsenkirchen as part of the Ruhr metropolitan area.