The present study explores the potential imbalance problem of the Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES) system at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) campus, Eindhoven. This ATES is one of the largest European aquifer thermal energy storage systems, and has a seasonal imbalance problem. Reasons for this issue may be the high cooling demand from laboratories, office buildings and the direct ATES cooling system. Annually, cooling towers use on average 250 MWh electricity for the removal of about 5 GWh of excess heat from the ATES to the surroundings. In addition, the TU/e uses a large amount of natural gas for heating purposes and especially for peak supplies. Recovering the surplus heat of the ATES, a CO2 Trans-critical Heat Pump (HP) system to cover particularly peak demands and total heating demand is proposed, modeled and optimized. The model is validated using data from International Energy Agency. Based on simulation results, 708294 nm3 of natural gas are saved where two different scenarios were considered for the ATES efficiency, cost saving and green house gas reduction. In scenario I, the COP of the ATES increased up to 50% by which K€ 303.3 energy cost and 1288.5 ton CO2 are saved annually. On the other hand, it will be shown that the ATES COP in Scenario II will improve up to 20%. In addition, the proposed energy recovery system results in a 606 ton CO2 -reduction and K€152.7 energy cost saving for the university each year.

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Renewable energy continues to attract much interest due to the depletion of fossil fuels and unsettled political disputes. This study aims to evaluate the current status of energy generation on the campus of Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). Furthermore, it looks for ways for the TU/e to improve sustainability by finding and proposing alternative solutions. Therefore, a broad scope of various renewable energy sources (RES) has been investigated. From many aspects, the analysis of RES proves that biomass is the most appropriate source of renewable energy for the TU/e campus. Thus, the capability of harvestable biomass fuel in energy generation throughout a year has been investigated for this project, and it has been concluded that solid biomass waste from the campus can provide 1314 MWh heat load annually. In order to achieve as much energy from biomass as possible, a combined heat and power unit (CHP), in order to produce both heat and electricity for new student houses on the campus, has been modeled. Finally, the project results show that a small-scale CHP cycle is capable of producing 366 MWh electricity, as well as 772 MWh heat, annually.

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