ShallowTHERM

Project Description

The ShallowTHERM project will test a methodology, previously applied in Italy, to estimate the underground heat-exchange potential for shallow geothermal installations, in particular, vertical closed loop collectors. The ShallowTHERM project aims to build upon previous SEAI supported projects under the Irish Ground Thermal Properties (IGTP – RDD/00045 & RDD/00109). The proposed methodology for ShallowTHERM focuses on the use of the DCCAE/GSI Tellus airborne electromagnetic dataset linked with geographical information systems (GIS) based maps of Irish geology and the current Irish Ground Thermal Properties (IGTP) database. The project will test, and optimise for application in Ireland, a method of mapping litho-electrical units (Santilano et al., 2015, 2016). The project will apply this methodology to map litho-electrical units through association with the IGPT database and selective additional laboratory measurement. This methodological approach and the derived data, will allow thermal conductivity to be more accurately determined over significantly wider areas of bedrock coverage in Ireland (as opposed to the currently available single point measurements in the IGTP database). The available thermal conductivity data will allow for direct input into the ground source vertical closed loop collector suitability maps recently published by GSI and improve the understanding and potential for deployment of Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) systems.