Stockholm-Arlanda Airport has now been given the green light by the regional Environmental Court to begin building a cooling and heating system for the airport utilising an aquifer. This aquifer will serve as the world’s largest energy storage unit.
Having received permission from the Environmental Court, this autumn Stockholm-Arlanda will begin building a large district cooling and heating system in an aquifer in the Brunkeberg Ridge, a glacial moraine that runs past the airport.
“LFV Arlanda’s aim is to make this a carbon dioxide neutral airport by 2012. In the past four years, we have more than halved our own carbon dioxide emissions,” says Kenth Arvidsson, Managing Director of Arlanda Energi, the airport’s own energy supplier.
The aquifer can be described as a huge groundwater reservoir that functions like a thermos. Cold water will be pumped up out of the aquifer in summer for use in the airport’s district cooling network. Warmed-up water will then flow back and be pumped underground and stored until winter, when it is needed to melt the snow in aircraft parking stands and pre-warm the ventilation air in buildings.
Arlanda consumes as much energy as a city of 25,000 people. Areas as large as one hundred European football pitches need to be cooled in summer and warmed in winter.
The aquifer will reduce the airport’s annual electricity consumption by four gigawatt hours and its district heating consumption by around 15 GWh, for a total of 19m GWh, equivalent to the energy consumed by 1,000 single-family homes.
Since 2005 Stockholm-Arlanda has used only “green” electricity, and since 2006 its district heat has come from biofuel. The aquifer will free up a sizeable volume of green electricity and biofuel-based district heating capacity for others to buy.
“In other words, a double environmental effect,” Mr Arvidsson says.
Here is a graphic showing how the aquifer will work (free for editorial use)
Key words in the graphic: Grundvattennivå = Groundwater level, Sand/grus = Sand/gravel, Varma brunnar = Warm wells, Kalla brunnar = Cold wells, Berg = Rock
For further information, please contact:
Kenth Arvidsson, Managing Director, Arlanda Energi, mobile 076-899 87 39.
Jan Lindqvist, Head of Corporate Communication, LFV Arlanda, mobile 070-891 64 02.