Large scale ground source heat pumps

[MrFoolish]

Is it possible to have large scale ground source heat pumps, such as under farmed fields, to provide heat for towns?

I suspect the problem would be the low temperature heat extracted is difficult to boost with further heat exchanges, so difficult to convert the energy (to e.g. electricity) or move over large distances.

[BullDog]

Funnily enough, though 5 years old, there is a significant government report on this subject. A short quotation from the document -

The scenario analysis undertaken using the model showed that incorporating heat pumps into district heating schemes has the potential, in the context of a rapidly decarbonising electricity grid, to offer large CO2 savings relative to a counterfactual of district heating based on either gas-CHP (for large schemes) or gas boilers (for small schemes). Assuming the current trajectory towards low carbon electricity generation, we found CO2 savings versus the 1 counterfactual scheme in the range 48-84% across the four core Scenarios

Document link - https://www.google.com/url?q=https://as ... cR2DbKGUAu

(Let's ignore the fact that there's really very few district heating systems in the UK compared to other countries).

[Mike4]

Is it possible to have large scale ground source heat pumps, such as under farmed fields, to provide heat for towns?

I suspect the problem would be the low temperature heat extracted is difficult to boost with further heat exchanges, so difficult to convert the energy (to e.g. electricity) or move over large distances.

There was a programme on the R4 a few months ago about using disused and flooded mines (of which there loads apparently) as heat sources for heat pump-powered district heating schemes.