GNGTS 2023 - Atti del 41° Convegno Nazionale

Session 3.1 - POSTER GNGTS 2023 A multidisciplinary approach for exploring shallow geothermal resources: the Mirandola case study D. Rapti 1,2 , R. Caputo 2,3 1 Department of Chemical, Pharmaceutical and Agricultural Sciences, Ferrara University, cpr@unife.it 2 New Energies And environment, Spin-off Company of Ferrara University, Ferrara, Italy 3 Department of Physics and Earth Sciences, (3) Department of Physics and Earth Sciences, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy Keywords : low enthalpy, GRT, hydrogeology, alluvial plain, energy transition Introduction The undergoing climate change and the spread of micro-polluting particles in the atmosphere, both effects strongly associated with the large use of fossil sources, urged energy and environmental policies, at all levels from international down to municipal ones, towards a rapid transition. As a consequence, in depth research and real examples of successful applications of renewable and eco-sustainable resources represent an important support to the energy transition towards 2030. In line with this, an Italian Public Company has recently decided to expand its district heating serving the town of Mirandola, north Italy. Background At present, energy is provided by a co-generator fuelled with gas, while for the new plant they decided to exploit the shallow geothermal capacity of their subsoil. For better defining the workflow of this problem-solving process, we used the above mentioned environmental and energy needs as starting points and integrated the process with design-thinking methodologies. The test site is located within the northern alluvial plain of the Modena Province, north Italy. Notwithstanding the apparently uniform morphological setting, the stratigraphy and the hydrogeological conditions have been strongly influenced by the recent tectonics causing important heterogeneities in the subsoil. The most energy-intensive customer of the district heating is represented by the head-quarter offices of the Company itself, where the building's thermal needs alone consist of approximately 750 MWh/year for heating and the production of domestic hot water. It should be mentioned that at present these also need more than 500 MWh/year for summer cooling, which is provided by another fossil fuelled machine.