Geothermal energy at Bellewaerde Park

The park is increasingly turning to more sustainable solutions for heating its buildings. In 2023, geothermal energy was chosen to heat and cool the renovated The King's Table restaurant and the new stable for the giraffes and zebras.

TO GO FURTHER

The principle of geothermal energy

Geothermal energy is the use of underground energy as a source of heat and electricity. Geothermal energy is inexhaustible, stable, clean and available all year round, without interruption.

To produce electricity or heat using high-temperature geothermal energy from dry rock, water must be injected into the subsoil to heat it. The principle is to dig a well and introduce large quantities of water. This water infiltrates and heats up on contact with the rock, before being captured by other wells using heat pumps (PAC). Once at the surface, a heat exchanger transfers the hot water's heat to a refrigerant.

Geothermal energy in the savannah

As part of the modifications made to the savannah area of Bellewaerde Park (improvements to the giraffe and zebra enclosures and stables, renovation of The King's Table restaurant), geothermal energy was chosen to heat and cool the enclosures. The heat (in winter) and coolness (in summer) of the subsoil is extracted by 30 100-metre-deep boreholes.

The park thus saves at least 25,000 liters of fuel oil a year, corresponding to around 68 tonnes of carbon equivalent (tCO2e).

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