On 15 October 2026, the kick-off meeting of the international TRIDENT project took place at the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam, Germany. The Central Mining Institute – National Research Institute (GIG-PIB) was represented by Krzysztof Kapusta, Woleta Basa and Mariusz Kruczek. The project explores the use of post-mining lakes for seasonal thermal energy storage to support the transformation of district heating.
TRIDENT (Thermal energy storage in post-mining lakes for district heating transformation) aims to develop a technical and economic feasibility study for applying Pit Thermal Energy Storage (PTES) technology in former open-pit lignite mines. The concept involves storing industrial waste heat and heat generated from surplus renewable energy for subsequent use in district heating networks during periods of higher demand.
During the meeting, the partners presented their respective tasks and discussed the project objectives, research schedule and cooperation arrangements. Discussions covered the integration of thermal storage into energy systems, modelling and monitoring, upscaling the technology to post-mining lakes, and environmental, socio-economic and technical risk assessment.
The research will draw on experience from the PTES facilities in Meldorf and Bracht and experimental facilities in Rechlin, Germany. These will provide a basis for assessing the potential application of the technology in the planned post-mining lakes of the Bełchatów–Szczerców mining complex in Poland. The work will include laboratory and field studies, together with numerical modelling of heat transfer and the impacts of thermal storage on the surrounding environment.
The consortium comprises eight partners from Germany, Poland and France: GFZ (coordinator), Ramboll Deutschland, PGE Górnictwo i Energetyka Konwencjonalna, PGE Energia Ciepła, GIG-PIB, the Institute for Ecology of Industrial Areas (IETU), Solmax Geosynthetics and INERIS. The project started on 1 October 2026 and will run for 36 months.
The TRIDENT project is co-funded by the European Union’s Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS) under grant agreement No 101296055.
Galeria
