Joint Base Andrews Thermal Storage

2023
Washington, D.C.
Environmental Security Technology Certification Program

Led by Navy Geothermal Program Office, RESPEC has teamed with Lawerance Berkley National Laboratory to respond to the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program Topic Area D8-Thermal Microgrids for Efficiency and Lower Green House Gas Emissions. The study is titled Cost-Effective Thermal Micro-Grids Using GABESS for High Efficiency, Low GHGs, Resiliency, and ESCO Financeability. Grid-Amplified Building Energy Seasonal Storage (GABESS, pronounced “gabes”) technology combines Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHP), Water Source Heat Pumps (WSHP), and Borehole Thermal Energy Storage (BTES). An ASHP delivers a greater quantity of cold or heat energy to the BTES than the electric power used by the ASHP, so stored energy in the BTES has been Grid Amplified. The heat or cold stored in the BTES will be recovered for Building Energy heating or cooling (not electricity). Because the BTES can retain heat or cool for months at a time, it provides seasonal storage. GABESS can be applied to any size building, works best when the BTES is large, and so a multi-building District Heating and Cooling Thermal Microgrid (DHCTM) are ideal.

The project is a pre-feasibility study to develop cost-effective resiliency, efficiency, and CO2 reduction by use of geothermal borehole seasonal and diurnal storage for building heating and cooling energy via hybrid geothermal and air-source chillers/heat pumps.

Stages:
8. Thermal Storage