Heating, cooling, and thermal energy storage at the Zurich Airport
Overview
Terminal E of the Zurich Airport was opened in 2003. With its shopping mall and industrial areas the airport terminal has a great heating and cooling demand covered to a great part by geothermal energy.
Because of the unstable ground in the region, buildings are constructed on 0.9-1.5m thick concrete piles reaching 30m into the underground. For terminal E, 309 of these piles were equipped with 5 U-shaped ground loop heat exchangers each at minimal additional cost. Thus, the concrete building elements are not only used for stabilizing the building but also as a seasonal thermal energy storage.
The geothermal system covers 70% of the terminal’s heating demand in winter and 50% of its cooling demand in summer. The seasonal storage is complemented by chillers for cooling and a heat pump for heating. In 2010, the Airport received the Swiss Geothermal Award.
Encouraged by the success of the geothermal system in Terminal E, the Airport’s building complex “The Circle” built in 2020 was equipped with the same thermal efficient storage technology with about 1000 such concrete piles. This is expected to cover 75-100% of the new building’s heating and cooling demand.
Summary
Capacity: 1,500 MWh heat 580 MWh cold
Date commissioned: 2003
Service(s) provided: Heating, cooling, thermal storage
Depth: 30m
CO2 savings: 400t CO2 per year (heating only)