Groundwater Cooling - AIRAH · water, groundwater cooling has no net loss of water • Performs...
Transcript of Groundwater Cooling - AIRAH · water, groundwater cooling has no net loss of water • Performs...
Groundwater Cooling Cooling supercomputers using geothermal energy
CSIRO ENERGY GROUP
Dr Mike Trefry | Director, SESKA Geothermal Project April 2014
Overview
Section 1: Background • Square Kilometre Array • Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder • The Pawsey Centre
Section 2: Sustainable Energy for the SKA • The Groundwater Cooling Project • How it works • Construction and commissioning • Advantages • Hydrogeological and environmental aspects • Facilities integration and control • Real-time performance data • Educational and research outreach
Section 3: The future • What’s next?
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Acknowledgements The CSIRO team: • Project Director: Mike Trefry • Project Sponsor: Dave Williams/Tom Hatton • Earth Science & Resource Engineering Division Deputy Chief: Steve Harvey • Technical Lead: Thomas Poulet • Science Lead: Klaus Regenauer-Lieb • Project Manager: Jacqueline Cook • Scientists/Researchers: Grant Douglas, Heather Sheldon, Peter Schaubs, Praveen Kumar
Rachakonda, Dan Lester, Guy Metcalfe, Ludo Ricard, Lynn Reid • Property Manager: Ken Fogarty • Risk Manager: Sue Brown • Finance Manager: Francoise van Es • Health, Safety and Environment Manager: Louise Beckwith • Procurement Manager: Don Geeves • Communication: Eamonn Bermingham, Nikki Galovic Plus many contractors.
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Section 1: Background SKA, ASKAP and the Pawsey Centre
Square Kilometre Array
• Led by the SKA Organisation based in the UK
• Involves institutions from over 20 countries
• Will be the largest and most capable telescope ever constructed
• Will allow astronomers to answer fundamental questions about the universe
• Australia and southern Africa will each host different components of the telescope
• Made up of a single, very large telescope and millions of small antennas
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Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder
• CSIRO’s world-leading radio telescope
• An array of 36 antennas, each 12 metres in diameter, working together as a single instrument
• Located in the remote mid-west region of WA
• Captures radio images with unprecedented sensitivity over large areas of sky
• In one week ASKAP will generate more information than is currently contained on the whole World Wide Web
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The Pawsey Centre
• World-class supercomputing centre
• Supports the Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder research, geosciences and other high-end science
• $80 million Federal Government funding
• CSIRO built and commissioned the Pawsey Centre in trust for iVEC
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Section 2: Sustainable Energy for the SKA Groundwater Cooling
The Project
• At full capacity the Pawsey Centre supercomputer will generate a lot of heat (0.8 MWth)
• CSIRO developed a geothermal solution known as groundwater cooling
• Expected to save up to 14.5 million litres of water in the first two years of operation compared to conventional cooling towers
• Funded by the Australian Government’s Education Investment Fund
• Has the potential to revolutionise the way we cool our buildings
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How does it work?
The system involves pumping cool water from a shallow aquifer beneath the Australian Resources Research Centre (ARRC) in Perth, through an above-ground heat exchanger to cool the supercomputer, before reinjecting the water underground again.
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What is the Mullaloo Aquifer?
• Part of the Kings Park Formation
• Sandy sequence of the Mullaloo Sandstone Member
• Localized valley deposit
• Heterogeneous paleochannel aquifer
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Pawsey
Construction and commissioning
• Majority of the drilling for the production system occurred in 2013
• The system consists of: • 2 cold water extraction wells • 2 cold water injection wells • 2 warm water injection wells • 9 monitoring wells
• The system became operational and was commissioned by CSIRO Chief Executive, Dr Megan Clark in November 2013
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Advantages
• Unlike conventional cooling towers, which use large amounts of water, groundwater cooling has no net loss of water
• Performs reliably around the clock regardless of the weather or season
• If deployed more widely it has the potential to replace cooling towers in buildings including major facilities such as hospitals and industrial operations
• The power required to run the groundwater cooling pumps is to be offset by an array of solar panels on the roof of the Pawsey Centre
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Stratigraphy
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Sediments
Parameter Davidson and Yu (2006) Rockwater (2011)
KH (m/d) 10 - 15 8 - 45
S (-) 1 - 5 x 10-4 7 - 10 x 10-4
Hydrogeological and environmental aspects
• The project deployed monitoring instruments and conducted modelling to ensure negligible environmental impact
• Modelling shows there will be minimal impact on: • water level of the aquifer for
neighbouring residents • temperature of the water in the
aquifer • Kensington Bushland (local
vegetation in the area) • Mullaloo geochemistry is
reasonably benign, with thin pyrite horizons at depth
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• Quartz-dominated sediments, with minor carbonates, K-feldspars and clays, ilmenite/rutile, and pyrite at depth.
• Coarse grains with high void porosity
• Trace elements: elevated Cr, V, Zr, ± S, As also notable
• Water composition: Na-Cl type, low TDS, some nutrients and DOC, no BTEX
• Low numbers of microbes, but with potential for clogging
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Geochemical Results
Palynology – organic-rich horizon, upper Mullaloo
• Palynological analysis indicates organic-rich horizon is early Tertiary, likely Eocene
• Marine/estuarine facies – similar to present Swan Estuary?
Dinoflagellate (algal) cyst - Maturodinium fimbriata
Protea spore - Proteacidites crassus
Fern spore - Clavifera triplex
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Real-time performance data
• The system’s bores are set up with advanced monitoring equipment
• Data from the system is logged using the Pawsey Centre’s Building Management System
• Live and historical data is made available via the groundwater cooling website for researchers to access
www.groundwatercooling.csiro.au
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Engineering data: • Pressure • Flow rate
Geochemistry data: • Temperature • pH • Redox potential • Dissolved oxygen • Turbidity • Conductivity
Real-time performance data
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Facilities integration and control
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• The system is fully controllable through the Building Management System (BMS)
• All electronic and hydraulic equipment has monitoring sondes sending real-time information to the BMS
• Alarms are connected to monitor system behaviour
• Automated safe-shutdown procedures are in place if problems occur
• Backup cooling towers and a refrigerated circuit are in place in case the system stops functioning
Facilities integration and control
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Education and research outreach
• Collaboration with Curtin University on geochemical research • Groundwater Cooling 3D Interpretive Centre • Interactive signage • Geophysical, geochemical, geological research opportunities • Calibrate numerical models and gain deeper understanding of the
system
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Section 3: The future What’s next?
• Analysing results • Behaviour of the system • Aquifer characterisation and water
sampling • Calibrating models • Research collaborations • Applications of the technology
to other buildings and facilities
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What’s next?
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CSIRO Geothermal Project Dr Mike Trefry Director, SESKA Geothermal Project t +61 2 9123 4567 e [email protected] w groundwatercooling.csiro.au
CSIRO EARTH SCIENCE AND RESOURCE ENGINEERING
Thank you