The Potential of Shallow Groundwater Resources for Cooling Purposes - a Geothermal Case Study in North East Jordan

Abstract

Geothermal energy as a sustainable resource has the potential to significantly contribute to the cooling of buildings in Jordan. A shallow aquifer system in north east Jordan was proven as a geothermal resource for its potential for cooling utilization. The investigation involved the development of various numerical 3D models in order to predict the future performance of the geothermal reservoir for different possible geothermal installation. The study showed that a geothermal utilization of the studied basaltic reservoir is feasible. It features sufficient hydraulic and thermal properties to be utilized for cooling purposes. Furthermore the models developed for this reservoir have proven to be robust and flexible. Therefore they can be used with new thermophysical and hydrogeological data to construct and analyze further near surface geothermal resources in Jordan.