Zurich Airport continues project for air conditioning through ice channel

(CONNECT) Flughafen Zürich AG is starting the construction of a second test well in an ice-age channel located around 300 meters below the airport site, the airport operator announced in a press release. It plans to use the water-bearing channel as a heat and cold storage tank for emission-free heating and cooling of the airport building. A test well installed last fall had already delivered promising results.

"The volumes of water that could be pumped and the flow rate of the water give us further confidence that the channel can serve as a heat and cold reservoir," Guido Hüni, Head of Energy and Decarbonization at Flughafen Zürich AG, is quoted as saying in the press release. "Further tests are now needed to determine the extent to which this storage facility can be used."

A suitable location for the second fountain is currently being sought. Once installed, it will be connected to the first well for circulation tests. "With this next step, we are testing the efficiency of such a storage facility and, if the results are positive, we can then plan the actual expansion," explains Hüni.

The airport operator is counting on the gutter to cover the majority of the heating and cooling requirements for the airport building. Depending on the yield, the water storage tank could be combined with geothermal probe fields. The estimated cost of the investment is stated in the press release as around CHF 8 million. Flughafen Zürich AG can rely on financial support from the Swiss Federal Office of Energy. ce/hs