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october 14, 2015 \ newsweekly - € 0,75 \ read more at www.flanderstoday.eu current affairs \ p2
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Toot-toot!
A Dutch shipping company is abandoning the vessel that sank last week, but the state secretary says Belgium isn’t footing the bill
Antwerp student associations agree to amendment of charter that assures residents won’t be disrupted by student activities
Find out just how important Flanders has been in the history of train travel at the new Train World museum in Brussels
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The power beneath our feet
Vito’s researchers are drilling deep under Flemish soil to tap geothermal energy Andy Furniere More articles by Andy \ flanderstoday.eu
A pioneering energy project has kicked off in Flanders, as the region’s institute for technological research goes underground in search of sustainable ways of heating our homes and businesses.
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gigantic rig is gradually boring to about four kilometres into Flanders’ soil. It’s in search not of oil or gas, but the heat from the water deep below the Earth’s surface. The drilling in Mol, Antwerp province, is the first phase of a pioneering large-scale deep geothermal energy project in Flanders. Geothermal energy is stored under our feet and originates from the formation of the planet, the decay of materials in the Earth’s crust or the friction from tectonic plates. If it’s deeper than 500 metres below the soil, it’s known as deep geothermal energy. This natural phenomenon can be harnessed as a sustainable energy source by pumping up hot water, extracting the heat from it and pumping back the cooled water. Until recently, geothermal power plants were established in countries like Iceland where volcanic activity pushed the heat up in a natural way. But the progress of technology enables engineers in other places to tap heat from deep below the surface. The Flemish Institute for Technological Research (Vito) has been preparing the region’s first large-scale deep geothermal energy project for about five years. The researchers first mapped in detail the deep subsurface of the Mol region to a depth of more than 4km, using seismic data obtained using ground impact systems known as thumper trucks. Vito’s prognosis is that hot water will be found at a depth of about 3.5km, at a temperature of more than 120 degrees Celsius. The Kempen region, in the north of Antwerp and Limburg, is the most attractive area in Flanders for drilling because the hardest layers of rock are much lower there than they are elsewhere. To find out if its estimates are correct, a few weeks ago Vito launched a pilot project at its Balmatt site in Mol. In the past the site housed a factory that made polluting asbestos materials, but it could now become the base for a new method of eco-friendly energy production. A team of about 20 engineers from the Flemish Smet Group drilling company and Germany’s THV Balmatt Drilling are working hard to get to the water hidden under many sedimentary layers. The 60m drilling rig at the Balmatt site – lovingly dubbed “The Beast” among the engineers – is among the most energy-efficient in Europe and doesn’t create noise pollution. By December, the Vito researchers should have the information they need on the flow rate and temperature of the water under the Balmatt site. “If the water is at least 90 degrees Celsius, we can use it for heating purposes,” says Geert De Meyer, Vito’s geothermal development manager. “If it’s about 120 degrees, we can convert the heat to electricity.” If the results of the pilot project are positive, a second drilling project will be launched in January. By next October, the energy would be used to heat the headquarters of Vito itself. “By 2017, the headquarters should be completely heated in a sustainable way,” says De Meyer. “Part of our electricity consumption should then also be covered by geothermal energy.” The next goal is to provide energy to about 16,000 households in © Courtesy Vito
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