On 19 March, the agreement between the Municipality of Milan, the Metropolitan City, Musa and Bicocca University promoting the sustainable use of groundwater for the thermal comfort of homes will be presented.

Milan once again stands out as the Italian city most at the forefront of ecological transition and the development of new forms of clean energy.

In this context an agreement was born between the Municipality of Milan, the Metropolitan City of Milan, Musa (Multilayered Urban Sustainability Action), and the University of Milan-Bicocca for the realisation of a project that will make it possible to exploit the area’s aquifers for the development of new geothermal heat pumps capable of heating homes.

Groundwater is in fact a natural heat accumulator that maintains a constant temperature throughout the year regardless of the surface air temperature. The use of a heat pump allows this water to be extracted and used to heat a building naturally and without the use of polluting fossil fuels.

Currently, there are already 250 projects in Milan that intend to exploit this system and the authorisations to proceed are being developed. The agreement between the Municipality, the Metropolitan City, Musa and Bicocca University will enable the sharing of information, skills and models so that planners and authorities can fully realise the development of this innovative system.

This synergy, as mentioned, will give rise to an ‘operational model for the hydrogeological and thermal management of the subsoil through the sharing of databases on the water table, geothermal models, and the creation of a Cabina di Regia for urban geothermal energy’. The urban hydrogeology and geothermal energy group of DISAT (Department of Environmental and Earth Sciences of the University of Milan-Bicocca) has already developed a model with data needed for concessions and discharges of the Metropolitan City and with data from the Municipality of Milan.

The agreement will be presented during the conference ‘Energy and Groundwater in the Metropolitan City of Milan’ to be held on 19 March in the Sala degli Affreschi of Palazzo Isimbardi. The proceedings will begin at 9.30 a.m. and conclude in the morning. The conference will be introduced by Emilio De Vita (dDirector of the Environment and Land Protection Area of the Metropolitan City of Milan), Angelo Pascale (Green and Environment Department of the Municipality of Milan) and Vittorio Biondi (General Manager of MUSA scarl), and will be attended by Paolo Festa (Councillor delegate for the Environment of the Metropolitan City of Milan) and Elena Eva Maria Grandi (Councillor for the Environment and Green Areas of the Municipality of Milan).

Other speakers will include: Christine Ballarin of the Municipality of Milan, who will illustrate the topic ‘Sharing data and experiences of the Municipality of Milan in the use of groundwater as a geothermal resource: Potentialities and criticalities”; Giovanni Crosta from the University of Milan-Bicocca who will discuss “Methods for the quantitative management of groundwater as a water and energy resource”; Alberto Previati from the University of Milan-Bicocca who will address the topic “Integration of existing databases and local/regional scale modelling of geothermal plants”; Marco Felisa from the Metropolitan City of Milan who will discuss “Sharing groundwater, wells, discharges and hydrogeological data”.

For those who would like to participate and ask questions to the speakers, it will be possible to anticipate the questions by sending an email to: segreteria.acque-cave@cittametropolitana.mi.it. We also ask you to specify the name and surname of the participant, the organisation or company they belong to, and any professional association memberships.