Airport Minewater and Hot Sedimentary Aquifer Scoping Study

Date: Jan 2018 – Feb 2018
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Client: Private Sector
Stage: Pre-feasibility

A major development plan includes new commercial and residential properties on the western periphery of Edinburgh. A review of the site’s current energy consumption was undertaken, including projected increases as a result of these developments. TRE carried out an assessment of the potential minewater heating and cooling resource and the Hot Sedimentary Aquifer (HSA) heating resource beneath the existing and proposed development area to investigate the potential of integrating geothermal heat and coolth into the future development. The work was funded by the Low Carbon Infrastructure Programme (LCIP) managed by Scottish Enterprise.

The minewater resource was deemed to have insufficient volume to progress a substantial heating and cooling system, due to risk of over-heating the mine from excessive cooling demand. The system could be balanced but there were insufficient drivers for a retrofit of the site’s existing heating and cooling systems which were considered by the client to be a barrier.

The HSA resource was more attractive if it could be included as a standalone third-party investment option, selling heat into a new low-temperature (55-30°C) heat network that would have multiple heat sources feeding into it.