This research project aimed to determine the heating and cooling potential of aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) systems in the Mediterranean climatic zone. The project was carried out in greenhouses at the Cukurova University, Adana, during 2005-2006. For this purpose, two plastic greenhouses, each having an area of 360 m², were used. One of them was heated and cooled by an ATES system. In the second one, conventional heating and cooling systems were used. The inside and outside temperatures of the greenhouses, as well as ground water and exchanger water temperatures were recorded throughout the experimental period. Tomato crop was grown in both greenhouses and plant growth and fruit yield were measured. Energy costs of the greenhouses (fuel oil for the conventionally heated greenhouse and electricity for the ATES system) were also calculated. Consequently, these two systems were technically and economically compared.

The collected data showed that ATES systems have good potential for climatisation, both for heating and cooling, of greenhouses in the Mediterranean climatic zone. Between October 20^th and April 10^th, the inside temperature of the ATES system heated greenhouse was never below critical level (120 ℃) and thanks to this performance, the ATES greenhouse never used any fuel oil. On the other hand, temperature fluctuations in the ATES greenhouse were less than the conventionally heated one. The energy cost saving with ATES for heating was about 70% in comparison with the conventionally heated (with fuel-oil) greenhouse. With respect to tomato yield, the greenhouse that was heated by the ATES system resulted in approximately 20% more yield than that in the conventionally climatised one.