Integrated heating using natural gas and geothermal resources

Abstract

The general situation in the Georgian energy sector is serious. The whole energy sector was ruined with the collapse of the Soviet Union and today faces the reality of no central district heating or domestic hot tap water supply. Mostly, space heating changed to electric heating, which nowadays is quite expensive and inefficient. This also puts a heavy load on the electric power sector causing serious shortages in electricity during the winter. This project can thus be considered the very first step in rebuilding district heating. After many surveys and analyses, during which several district heating alternatives were evaluated, a decision was made to opt for the following project. It is a two stage project: Tap water supply using geothermal hot water as a power source, and district heating based on individual natural gas boilers. Despite the higher prime cost of individual gas boilers, this alternative was chosen mainly due to the social-economical situation in the country and the flexibility it offers through stepwise development in phase with economic development and demand. It, moreover, avoids the bane of the industry, i.e. non-payment of energy bills. This is achieved by more controlled development than is possible with a centralised geothermal district heating system that requires a large up-front investment that may be out of phase with demand ...