DEPLOYMENT OF DEEP ENHANCED GEOTHERMAL SYSTEMS FOR SUSTAINABLE ENERGY BUSINESS

ended

Our goal with the DEEPEGS project is to demonstrate the feasibility of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) for delivering energy from renewable resources in Europe. Testing of stimulating technologies for EGS in deep wells in different geologies, will deliver new innovative solutions and models for wider deployments of EGS reservoirs with sufficient permeability for delivering significant amounts of geothermal power across Europe. DEEPEGS will demonstrate advanced technologies in three geothermal reservoir types that provide all unique condition for demonstrating the applicability of this “tool bag” on different geological conditions. We will demonstrate EGS for widespread exploitation of high enthalpy heat (i) beneath existing hydrothermal field at Reykjanes (volcanic environment) with temperature up to 550°C and (ii) very deep hydrothermal reservoir Vendenheim with temperatures up to 220°C that is located in the Upper Rhine Graben (URG), a tertiary-age NNE directional rift enclosed in the European Cenozoic Rift System (ECRIS). ECRIS is an 1100 km long system of rifts formed in the foreland of the Alps as the lithosphere responded to the effects of the Alpine and Pyrenean orogenies (The originally planned French demonstrators of Valence and Riom are also located in rifts belonging to the ECRIS system). Our consortium is industry driven with five energy companies that are capable of implementing the project goal through cross-fertilisation and sharing of knowledge. The companies are all highly experienced in energy production, and three of them are already delivering power to national grids from geothermal resources. The focus on business cases will demonstrate significant advances in bringing EGS derived energy (TRL6-7) routinely to market exploitation, and has potential to mobilise project outcomes to full market scales following the end of DEEPEGS project. We seek to understand social concerns about EGS deployments, and will address those concerns in a proactive manner, where the environment, health and safety issues are prioritised and awareness raised for social acceptance. We will through risk analysis and hazard mitigation plans ensure that relevant understanding of the risks and how they can be minimised and will be implemented as part of the RTD approaches, and as a core part of the business case development.