The Polish Geological Institute - National Research Institute and the NORCE Norwegian Research Centre continue their cooperation under the terms of the project “Optimization of Shallow Geothermal Energy Resources for Green Transition OptiSGE” which began in September 2023.

On June 4–6, 2024, another second project study visit took place, this time in Bergen, Norway. The partners jointly carried out tasks that are part of Activity 2: Exchange of knowledge and experience. In addition, a workshop on shallow geothermal activities, optimization, and best use of resources was conducted as part of Activity 3 Capacity Building: workshop on shallow geothermal activities, optimization, and best use of resources.

Project personnel at the NORCE headquarters in Bergen

Speakers and listeners of the morning presentation session

The visit started with the project management meeting, during which current activities as well as the tasks planned for implementation were discussed. This was followed by a session of presentations focusing on the geological and hydrogeological conditions of Norway in the context of the use of low-temperature geothermal energy, the experience of commissioning, implementation, monitoring, and effects of the operation of ground source heat pumps (GSHP) installations in Norway and Sweden, as well as temperature profiling in the geological boreholes using a distributed thermal sensing with fiber optic (OF DTS). Further on, the topic of DTS application to the monitoring of drilled wells, borehole heat exchangers (BHE), borehole thermal energy storage (BTES) facilities, gas and oil pipelines, and other infrastructure components was discussed. A land development project based on the identification of hydrogeological conditions and the possibility of using geothermal energy in a Norwegian municipality was presented. At the end of the session, the results of temperature profiling in the selected hydrogeological boreholes in southwest Poland performed under the OpiSGE project were presented and discussed.

On the same day, participants had an opportunity to visit a low-temperature geothermal installation at the Nygårdsporten Odfjell Eiendom building in the neighborhood of the NORCE headquarters. The facility is heated by a number of BHEs, about 200 metres deep each. The installation is a retrofit of an existing building, therefore, all the equipment had to be dimensionally adapted to the boiler room's relatively small size.

OptiSGE team during a tour of the heating and ventilation systems of the Nygårdsporten Odfjell Eiendom building

The second day of the study visit included a full-day field trip, which began with a tour of the Energy Park located in Øygarden, northwest of Bergen. This is an investment area open to the deployment of technologies related to CO2 sequestration and H2 production on an industrial scale.

View of CCB Energy Park (source: photo - CCB Energy, outline - https ://totalenergies.com/projects/carbon-capture-and-storage/northern-lights-first-major-carbon-capture-and-storage-project)

The first facility located here is a pioneering pilot plant for direct capture of H₂ from the atmospheric air, integrated with CO₂ capture and processing. Next to the installation, a land plot allowing for further development of the facility with the possibility of a several-fold increase in production capacity from the currently available capacity of about 1 t H₂/d to 4 million t H₂/year is made ready.

Installation for direct H₂ and CO₂ capture from the atmospheric air

Participants of the study visit against the fire wall, separating the various components of the installation 

Another key facility in the area is the Northern Lights installation, the world's first commercial carbon capture and storage (CCS) project focusing on the transportation of CO₂ by sea to the storage sites on the North Sea shelf. The carbon dioxide is stored in the geological formations at a depth of about 2,600 metres below the seabed. It is an open-source project, and its goal is to help European industrial players reduce CO₂ emissions.

Zwiedzanie instalacji The Nothern Lights, w tle magazyn buforowy CO₂

Another item on the field trip’s agenda was the presentation of the technological solutions, including the installation of GSHPs operating through 15 boreholes 220 metres deep, used in one of the most energy-efficient buildings in Norway, which is SWECO's office building in Bergen. Here, the system of BHEs is combined with the photovoltaic and ventilation systems.

Heating and ventilation systems installed in the basement of the SWECO building

Part of the photovoltaic system installed on the SWECO’s building roof

The final stop of the field trip was a visit to a drilling site for the GSHP with the use of the compressed air hammer method at a location in Bergen. The drilling is a part of retrofitting the older buildings in a dense urban area of the city.

Drilling the BHE with an air compressed hammer system in the Bergen urban development area

On the last day of the study visit, a hybrid workshop was held. The participants met at the NORCE office in Bergen as well as online. The event was attended by about 50 participants from Norway, Poland, Finland, Great Britain, Slovenia, Spain, Malta and Ireland. In the frame of three thematic groups, eight presentations were given. In the first group, the methods and tools used by the Polish Geological Institute-National Research Institute for efficient estimation of thermal conductivity were presented, simulation tools used by NORCE were discussed, and a feasibility study of implementing BHE’s technology for a chosen large housing estate in Warsaw, carried out by PGI-NRI, was presented.

In the second group, the integrated mapping of energy requirements and geological knowledge necessary to design energy systems adapted optimally to the needs of users in Norway were introduced. Analytical solutions applied to energy supply from BHEs were also presented, using examples of the selected projects implemented in Poland.

In the final topic group, the application of OF DTS measurements for monitoring of the BTES facility at the Aalto University complex in Finland was demonstrated. Thereafter, implementation of the OF DTS method for the temperature measurements at NORCE was presented, as well as the enhanced and active thermal response tests (TRT) at the selected locations in Finland and Estonia were shown and discussed.

Hybrid workshop on low-temperature geothermal activities and optimizing the use of its resources

The study visit completed under the Optimization of Shallow Geothermal Energy Resources for Green Transition OptiSGE project successfully enabled the exchange of knowledge, experience, and best research practices in the field of low-temperature geothermal energy. The visit opened up opportunities for further cooperation between PGI-NRI and NORCE.

During the project study visit, the PGI-NRI was represented by Maciej Kłonowski, Paweł Brytan, Anna Krzonkalla, Agnieszka Ładocha, Weronika Pratkowiecka and Karol Zawistowski from the Lower Silesian Branch in Wrocław, and Marta Szlasa from the Department of Engineering Geology in Warsaw. NORCE was represented by Kirsti Midttømme, Anders Nermoen, Peter Thomas, Karoline Kvalsvik, Eivind Bastesen and Walter Wheeler.

The Optimization of Shallow Geothermal Energy Resources for Green Transition OptiSGE project is funded by the Bilateral Cooperation Fund, the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism 2014-2021 and the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014-2021.

Abbreviations used in the text:

• BHE – borehole heat exchanger
• CCS – carbon capture and storage
• BTES – borehole thermal energy storage
• OF DTS – optical fibre distributed thermal sensing
• TRT – thermal response test

Text: Karol Zawistowski, Maciej Kłonowski
Photos: OptiSGE project team