Information
Innovation for De-Risking Enhanced Geothermal Energy Projects
DEEP brings together a distinguished and interdisciplinary team of scientists and practitioners from around the world committed to providing such answers. We argue that innovations in geothermal risk governance are urgently needed and possible, based on recent advances in seismic monitoring technologies, modelling capabilities and process understanding. DEEP executes an ambitious work program that leverages national efforts, bringing ongoing and planned, but currently fragmented, initiatives into a coherent international effort towards the ultimate goal of de-risking future geothermal projects worldwide.
Seismic risk reduction and reservoir efficiency are in the case of EGS reservoirs coupled problems: Balancing risk and economic output is a crucial requirement, and DEEP has a strong focus on optimisation of monitoring and risk assessment procedures to reduce commercial costs for future projects.
The five specific objectives of DEEP are:
- Innovative sensor and processing technologies to deliver step-changes in monitoring and imaging capabilities.
- De-risking: DEEP develops and tests robust real-time modelling and risk-mitigation strategies based on machine-learning, statistical and physics-based forecasting models. These next-generation adaptive and data-driven risk mitigation tools have shown the potential to forecast seismicity during EGS reservoir evolution much more precisely than current models.
- Knowledge transfer: We will enable and exploit knowledge transfer from other scales and other plays to deep geothermal energy, such as Underground Labs (e.g., Bedretto, EGS Collab); DEEP will transfer this rich knowledge, the technologies and physical understanding (TRL 1-4) to full scale deep geothermal energy applications (TRL 5-7).
- Demonstration: In full-scale and real-time applications, we will demonstrate the potential and limitations of these new technologies and risk mitigation strategies. DEEP will demonstrate technologies at the FORGE geothermal site and underground field laboratory in Utah and other demonstration sites in Germany and France.
- Good Practice: DEEP will define the next generation of good-practice guidelines and protocols based on the lessons learned and harmonised internationally and provide an open-source toolbox for EGS risk assessment and risk management for the first time.
Project website: http://deepgeothermal.org/home/
Project leader: Stefan WiemerPROJECT PARTNERS
| Partner name | Country |
| ETH Zurich and the Swiss Seismological Service (ETH) | Switzerland |
| Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) | USA |
| EOST (University of Strasbourg/CNRS) | France |
| Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Infrastructures and Geothermal Energy (IEG) | Germany |
| RWE Power AG (RWE) | Germany |
| Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies (DIAS) | Ireland |
| University of Geneva, Renewable Energy Systems Group | Switzerland |
| Geo Energie Suisse (GES) | Switzerland |
| Delft University of Technology | Netherlands |
| Dutch Association Geothermal Operators | Netherlands |
Project lead Stefan Wiemer
