Heat transition in existing urban districts: Deployment of shallow geothermal energy depending on technical, economic and legal constraints

In order to achieve the short- and medium-term climate targets in the building sector in Germany there is a significant need for a market penetration of heat pump systems in existing buildings, where the modernization of existing heating systems to heat pump systems is not yet very advanced. The joint project UrbanGroundHeat has two central goals in this regard. Based on model-based potential investigations and preliminary planning, the feasibility of geothermal energy supply solutions for existing districts of the energy suppliers participating in the project is to be elaborated so that a real implementation is prepared as a central project goal. For this purpose, the technical, regulatory and economic requirements in the investigated districts are to be identified and evaluated. Furthermore, the development of cross-case guidelines and the enhancement of the planning tools will create essential prerequisites to enable the energy suppliers participating in the project to implement geothermal projects in existing quarters in the future.

The project consortium is composed of partners with different perspectives on this issue. ISFH will focus on the technical and economic possibilities of heat supply and utilization in buildings and integrating solar thermal energy into the regeneration concept. Together with the project partners, ISFH will take over the modeling of the near-surface geothermal systems.