The History
The general idea to store heat in lakes has been presented already in the late 70s early 80s. At that time, the idea was discussed under the name Lake STES. Scientists considered this as a very promising technology to store heat at the lowest cost and for regions up to 100 km away from the hosting waters. Still, the concept disappeared, probably for environmental reasons or due to regulatory restrictions, maybe simply for alternative-use priorities. For sure, the socio-economic situation has changed since then and new materials are available today. For these reasons, we roll-up the idea again - 40 years later - to understand how BILS can support the transition to carbon free heat.
Taken from:
Preliminary Assessment of promising nonaquifer seasonal thermal energy storage
Donald E. Blahnik, Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Washington
Proceedings of International conference on seasonal thermal energy storage and compressed air energy storage Seattle – Washington, October 19-21, 1981