The potential of intermediate-to-deep geothermal boreholes for seasonal storage of district heat

Developing kilometers-long gravity heat pipe for geothermal energy exploitation

“…[10][11][12][13][14] The growing demand for deep geothermal energy urgently calls for advanced, highly efficient geothermal heat extraction technologies. 15,16 Moreover, direct geothermal utilization via traditional methods commonly involves underground hot water extraction, which faces major challenges, such as geographic limitations, 17,18 reinjection restrictions, 19 and thermal and chemical pollution due to improper disposal of wastewater. 20 Heat pipes are known for their exceptional heat transfer capabilities, [21][22][23] and thus, they have been successfully applied in almost all thermal engineering domains, such as solar collectors, 24,25 electronics cooling, 26 energy recovery systems, 22 as well as geothermal energy exploitation.…”

“…10–14 The growing demand for deep geothermal energy urgently calls for advanced, highly efficient geothermal heat extraction technologies. 15,16 Moreover, direct geothermal utilization via traditional methods commonly involves underground hot water extraction, which faces major challenges, such as geographic limitations, 17,18 reinjection restrictions, 19 and thermal and chemical pollution due to improper disposal of wastewater. 20…”

“…Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGSs), which were developed in the 1970s to extract heat from HDR [5][6][7] , have encountered hurdles such as large-scale rock fracturing 8,9 and induced microseismicity [10][11][12][13][14] . The growing demand for deep geothermal energy urgently calls for advanced, highly efficient geothermal heat extraction technologies 15,16 . Moreover, traditional direct geothermal utilization, commonly involving underground hot water extraction, is facing major challenges like geographic limitations 17,18 , reinjection restrictions 19 , and thermal and chemical pollution due to improper disposal of wastewater 20 .…”