An integrated 3D approach to assess the geothermal heat-exchange potential: The case study of western Sicily (southern Italy)

This paper presents a multidisciplinary methodology to estimate the underground heat-exchange potential for Borehole Heat Exchangers (BHEs) coupled with Ground Source Heat Pumps (GSHPs) over wide areas. The proposed methodology was tested in four sites in western Sicily (southern Italy) where the shortage of subsurface geological data, in addition to the undefined authorization processes for this kind of system, is probably the main barrier to planning and exploiting geothermal heat for heating and cooling purposes. Reliable high-resolution 3D geological and petrophysical models were built based on the integration of airborne electromagnetic data and laboratory measurements of the thermal properties of rock samples. A GIS-based procedure was applied to assess the geothermal heat-exchange potential using 3D models of thermal conductivity as the main input. The results of the analyses are represented by thematic maps of the underground heat exchange potential for BHEs coupled with GSHPs. The study areas show a generally high suitability for the use of this technology and several municipalities in the area could take advantage of the resulting maps for energy planning.