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Energy Conversion

Direct heat

Direct heat refers to the use of geothermal energy for heating applications without the need for a heat pump or other conversion technologies. Proposed parameters are the following:

Economic parameter symbol value unit
minimum aquifer production temperature Tminprod 60 °C
injection (return) temperature Treturn 40 °C
maximum cooling temperature for reinjection relative to reservoir (ΔT) ΔTmax 40-200 °C
Conversion efficiency η 1 -
Parasitic power needs for conversion process (fraction of net power) epara 0 -
annual load hours Hload 6000 hour
Capex Base expense CAPEXbase 3 million€
Capex Variable (including heat exchanger) CAPEXother,var 300 €/kW
base opex OPEXbase 0 k€
annual opex per unit power OPEXpower 50 €/kW
Additional opex per unit heat OPEXheat,var 0.0 €/kWh

The resulting Power is the net power output of the geothermal plant. For direct heat it does not include conversion to heat of the ESP power, and added heat in the heatpump from the compressor.