Geothermal use and potential of the Lund Sandstone in SW Skåne, Sweden

Abstract

The Cretaceous Lund Sandstone has been used as a geothermal resource by the city of Lund since the mid 1980s. A geothermal plant has provided up to 350 GWh/year from the c. 20 °C reservoir, corresponding to up to 45% of the heating demand in the city. The operational experiences serve as a unique reference for further exploration. The heat in place is estimated to correspond to several hundred years of heat consumption for five urban areas with about 300,000 inhabitants. The heat storage potential is also substantial and highly interesting for further exploration. Illustrating the heat reserve and the storage potential will hopefully foster further use of the resource, provided there are feasible competitive technical solutions.

Keywords

• low temperature
• reservoir
• geothermal utilisation
• design
• heat in place
• energy storage