In Brief

The Challenge

Geothermal energy resources are abundant in Ireland and could reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. But, according to the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) energy statistics report, geothermal accounts for less than 1% of Ireland's primary energy production. Our project objective is to help geothermal energy to become more mainstream in Ireland and to enable the community sector to take the lead in its adoption and deployment. We aim to achieve three main challenges 

  1. District heating, and heating of buildings using geothermal energy 
  2. Production of storage chemicals from geothermal energy 
  3. Production of electrical power from geothermal energy. 

The Solution

We aim to develop closed loop geothermal energy solutions on a campus-based scale that will demonstrate improved overall heat exchange efficiency between multiphase working fluid streams and the geothermal reservoir. This template could then be scaled for other communities. Our project builds on solid expertise in chemical engineering, thermodynamics and computational fluid dynamics to design and develop suitable technologies maximising the heat transfer and flows with phase change in heat pumps and other compact heat exchangers required for harnessing geothermal energy reserves.

The Team

  • Team Lead Prof Matthias Vandichel, University of Limerick 
  • Team Co-Lead Prof Vivek Ranade, University of Limerick  

Societal Impact Champion

  • Bill Kelly, The Urban COOP