PotKasp001 - Potential study on the use of rock caverns as a large-scale heat reservoir

It will be investigated if rock caverns can be used economically for the intermediate storage of heat in urban areas, taking into account the special requirements for large-scale heat storage in district heating networks. This technology of storage cavers can be due to (i) the geological conditions in the country with centrally located mountains of good rock quality, (ii) the existing knowledge in rock and underground mining with internationally active and leading engineering firms and university research institutions (iii) the resource-saving construction in terms of storage medium and storage construction, as well as the potential involvement of each individual person in the heat storage system, a key stone in the grand challenge – the transition to renewable energy as currently a major social challenge and it can strengthen international competitiveness for Austria industry through the development of new technologies and plants. The two main points of this investigation are (a) a cost analysis of the stored kWh based on optimised cavern planning, taking into account the losses and life cycle costs within around 90 years of operation of this infrastructure plant and (b) a detailed numerical simulation of the heat propagation in the rock and the analysis of heat losses and a potential co-activation of the surrounding rock mass for heat storage.