The use of seawater as an energy source of the future

Swiss lakes offer great potential for generating climate-friendly energy. The lakes can be used for cooling and heating.

It is not only the reservoirs that are suitable as a source of energy, but also the lakes of the Central Plateau. They are a reservoir for supplying a number of households and companies. By using heat exchangers, they can be cooled in summer and heated in winter.

But how does energy generation from seawater work?

The water is collected at a depth of 20 to 40 meters in the lake and pumped into an energy center. The energy is then transferred to a refrigerant via a built-in heat exchanger. This special agent circulates in a closed circuit and cannot mix with the lake water. The water is thus returned to the lake in a clean state and the resulting return temperature is determined by the energy removed or added. The maximum values are set by the authorities and amount to a temperature difference of around 3 degrees.

The water is drawn in through these pipes and fed into a central energy generation system.
Source : www.energie360.ch/de/energie-360/wissen/seewassernutzung