Analysis and optimization of the design parameters of a district groundwater heat pump system in Turin, Italy

District heating systems are gaining an increasing importance in the space heating and the production of Domestic Hot Water. Focusing on the geothermal energy as the energy supply of these systems, an optimal design could involve an increased number of geothermal district heating installations. This research presents two different designs of a groundwater heat pump system from the application of initial real data. Both designs differ in the heat pumps: 1 installation in scenario 1 and 3 installations in scenario 2. The procedure includes the calculation of all the required geothermal parameters in both assumptions. Optimization of the drilling schema is carried out using COMSOL Multiphysics software. Technical and economic results reveal that scenario 1 is the most suitable option for the study case here presented. Global initial investment is lower in scenario 1 the same as the annual operational costs since the coefficient of performance of the heat pumps in this scenario 1 is slightly higher than the one of each module of scenario 2. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.