There is huge potential for summer solar energy storage in groundwater which can be utilised in winter.
Supplemented with heat pumps, even outlying areas and villages can be supplied with stored solar energy from groundwater. This type of system, using groundwater to store solar energy, is called ATES, Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage.
ATES is used by over 40 plants in Denmark and many more in the Netherlands. One of the largest facilities is at Bispebjerg Hospital in Copenhagen. However, the system is also very suitable for smaller urban communities that are facing the outphasing of oil and gas boilers.
Energy communities could serve well as the governing entity handling the establishment of local heating and electricity supplies. Their structure is well suited to manage a decentralized and locally controlled energy supply.