Ten differences of seasonal borehole thermal energy storage system from ground-source heat pump system

Abstract

Since both the cross-seasonal borehole thermal energy storage (BTES) system and the ground source heat pump (GSHP) system use buried tubes for heat exchange, GSHP is often mistaken for a BTES system. However, there are essential differences between the GSHP system and the BTES system, and the purpose of this study is to elucidate in detail the differences between these two systems. This study first summarizes the practical application cases of seasonal BTES globally, and then deeply compares and analyzes the differences between the seasonal BTES system and GSHP system from ten different perspectives, including system definition, technology timeline, purpose of buried tube heat exchanger, heat sources, soil temperature changes, buried tube heat exchanger volume, design of the buried tube heat exchanger, energy storage modes, biggest drawback, system performance evaluation. Finally, the future development prospects and research directions of the seasonal BTES system are further discussed. In summary, although the GSHP system may be confused with the seasonal BTES system in some aspects, they are indeed two different systems. Compared to the GSHP system, the seasonal BTES system can solve the contradiction between energy supply and demand in time and space, and effectively improve energy utilization efficiency.