TetraEner - City of Geneva

Geneva is together with San Sebastian involved in the TetraEner project as a partner community.

DESCRIPTION of PROJECT

The backbone of the Geneva demonstration activities is a low-temperature thermal exchange network that will use water from Lake Geneva. By using the lake water that remains at a nearly constant temperature of 10ºC as a heat source, results in an estimated 2,000,000 litres of heating fuel being saved annually. With this new use of energy and the efforts of demand reduction, Geneva will reduceits consumption of conventional energy by 29%.

The main components of the network are:

a water pumping station,
the heat pumps associated with each building,
the water distribution network that extends two kilometres inland from the lake through a previously developed region of Geneva.

BUILDINGS CONNECTIONS and ENERGY EFFICIENCY

The network provides a thermal capacity of 24 MWth that is shared among the buildings that are connected to it.

The thermal exchange network extends will provide both new and existing buildings of various uses such as a school, administrative and residential buildings with a source of renewable sustainable energy.

The new buildings (218,000 m²) will be designed through energy efficiency (EE) schemes, and will incorporate eco-design elements such as passive solar design, adequate insulation and heat exchange during ventilation, to lower energy demand levels significantly. In many cases these new buildings will also incorporate heating and/or cooling systems able to use the thermal exchange network.

Geneva © AMAeschlimann

Six existing buildings are connected to a thermal exchange network and will be modified to integrate the thermal network by the Centre for the study of Energy Problems at the University of Geneva (CUEPE). The new heat/cool distribution systems include low temperature in-floor heating (lake water temperature is increased by using heat pumps) and/or ceiling panels cooled directly with lake water.

MANAGEMENT and FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The network will be managed by an ESCo (Energy Service Company) specially created for this purpose. It will work to develop new RES, opportunities for poly-generation and economic schemes to develop the network. Computer models are being developed by the Federal Polytechnical Institute of Lausanne (EPFL) and will simulate the systems response and sensitivity to lake temperature variation and energy demand fluctuations.

Furthermore, the use of the water circulating in the network to irrigate local parks and gardens will replace the current use of drinking water for this purpose. This will result in an estimated savings of 400,000 cubic metres of drinking water each year that will consequently reduce the energy demand for drinking water purification.

The Geneva community brings to the TetraEner project one very innovative aspect: the incorporation of a district heating/cooling network based on RES into an existing urban community. No doubt this experience of development of a new energy network in an existing neighbourhood will be taken as an example!

See more pictures from Geneva

GENEVA FACTS AND FIGURES:

	Estimated population involved:	14,000
	Approximate geographical area coverage:	368,000 m²
	Approximate energy saving:	25% reduction in conventional energy consumption
	Approximate energy from RES:	20%

Contact Mr. Eric LUMIS, contact person in Geneva, Switzerland at eric.lumis@etat.ge.ch