A first in geothermal energy Harnessing geothermal

A FIRST IN GEOTHERMAL ENERGY

France’s first marine geothermal power plant is to be constructed in the Euroméditerranée business eco-city in Marseille. This project, for which France-based GDF Suez is the main contractor, will use marine geothermal energy to provide heating and cooling to buildings within the Grand Port Maritime de Marseille network. This project has significance both for France and for Europe’s coastal regions as a whole – many of which could benefit from similar projects in the future.

Geothermal power plant IN September 2014, Constructructa, Foncière des Régions, EcoCité Euroméditerranée and GDF SUEZ subsidiary company Cofely Services signed an agreement to build France’s first marinepowered heating and cooling plant.

Located in the heart of the Grand Port Maritime de Marseille, the Thassalia marine geothermal plant is one of a kind, and will use marine geothermal energy to provide heating and cooling for those buildings connected to its network. It will therefore transform the Mediterranean Sea into a sustainable energy source for around 500,000m2 of Marseille.

Groundbreaking business eco-city

Born out of a central government initiative in 1995, the ‘Euroméditerranée’ project is a national infrastructure project designed to put Marseille on a par with Europe’s great-

GDF Suez geothermal drilling power will be used for the building of France’s first marine geothermal energy plant

est cities. The project involves the building of a new ‘city within a city’ based on sound sustainable development principles. It will see the renovation of an area of 480 hectares in the heart of the city between the commercial harbour ‘Vieux-Port’ and the train station. A €7 billion project supported by the French government, local authorities and the European, it has been billed as a ground-breaking ‘Mediterranean model of sustainable development’.

This sustainable ethos is based upon five integrated principles: Bioclimatic conceptualisation in terms of urban planning and architecture; a social mix that is both functional and inter-generational; reduction of health risks through climate management, biodiversity and urban quality; low carbon mobility; and, finally, the regional project ‘Nature in the City’ which is a particular part of the eco-city’s energy strategy (a reduction in the urban heat island phenomenon). The implementation of renewable and innovative energy systems, such as the marine geothermal energy plant, naturally forms a key part of this.

How will the plant work?

The plant will generate renewable energy by pumping seawater from the Port of Marseille to feed heat exchangers and heat pumps that will produce either heat or refrigeration to meet demand for both. The resulting heating and cooling services will then be delivered to buildings by a 3-kilometre pipeline network.

Although similar geothermal plants are already in operation, including the one in Paris that draws water from the River Seine, the Thassalia plant will be the first in France to use saltwater; a fact that imposes significantly higher technical constraints, especially in terms of corrosion control.

Developing coastal regions

The Thassalia marine geothermal plant is an excellent example of how innovation is driving energy transition and energy efficiency. Bear in mind that geothermal energy is expected to represent 0.3 per cent of EU electricity consumption by 2020 and 1.3 per cent of EU heating and cooling consumption. This project demonstrates just one of the ways in which this can be achieved.

GDF Suez’s Cofely Services is contributing its expertise in heating technology to the project. This division of the group provides sustainable solutions to enable its customers to reduce energy consumption, improve economic performance and control their environmental impact. This is based on a combination of its professional expertise and the implementation of intelligent systems – including optimised energy consumption, utilisation of local, renewable energy sources, optimised operation and maintenance of facilities and installations, and thermal renovation of buildings.

Meanwhile Climespace, the Group specialist in urban cooling networks, has contributed its refrigeration expertise. Climespace produces and distributes cool air through special residential and commercial air conditioning networks. It does so by leveraging its six production plants, two cold storage units and an underground network of over 43 miles of tunnels and city waterways.

“Although innovation is integral to Cofely Services’ DNA, we are also committed to providing our partner regions with solutions that meet their needs by anticipating their future challenges and concerns,” explained Cofely Services CEO Jean-Pierre Monéger, underlining the company’s intention to establish Euroméditerranée as a laboratory for urban sustainability.

Work on the plant is scheduled to begin at the start of next year, and when it comes on stream at the end of January 2016 it is expected to deliver a 70 per cent reduction in EcoCité greenhouse gas emissions and reduce its water consumption by 65 per cent. This type of plant therefore offers considerable potential for coastal regions, especially when you realise that 40 per cent of the world’s population lives within 100km of the sea. All of these regions could, one day, benefit from including a Thassalia-like solution into their energy mix. n