Objective
The share of renewable energy sources in the European energy balance can be increased by a meaning-ful contribution of geothermal energy. Since the mining cost (exploration and drilling) to access the re-sources represents over 60% of the total investmen t, a reduction in mining cost would increase the com-petitiveness of geothermal energy significantly. This goal can be achieved if we had a way to detect the presence of the fluids inside the natural and/or enhanced geothermal systems before any drilling opera-tion. The project I-GET is aimed at developing an innovative geothermal exploration approach based on ad-vanced geophysical methods. The objective is to improve the detection, prior to drilling, of fluid bearing zones in naturally and/or artificial ly fractured geothermal reservoirs. This new approach will be tested in three European geothermal systems with different geological and thermodynamic reservoir characte-istics: two high enthalpy (metamorphic and volcanic rocks) and two middle/low enthalpy geothermal system (sedimentary rocks). Petrophysical and geomechanical properties of the investigated rocks will be defined by laboratory measurements. Elastic and electric rock properties will be determined at the steam/liquid transition of the pore fill ings. The validity of the laboratory and simulation results will be verified by new field ex-periments. Seismic and magnetotelluric data will be acquired in the test sites, and new acquisition and processing techniques will be developed to solve problems related to the particular target such as high tempera-tures, anisotropy, phase condition, etc.. The static and dynamic three-dimensional model of geothermal reservoirs will be reconstructed by means of all the data acquired. Results will indicate to which extent the geophysical prospecting method is applicable.
Fields of science
- natural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistryinorganic compounds
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesgeologypetrologysedimentary petrology
- natural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistrypost-transition metals
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsrenewable energygeothermal energy
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesdata sciencedata processing
Call for proposal
FP6-2004-ENERGY-3
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
STREP - Specific Targeted Research ProjectCoordinator
POTSDAM
Germany