Fraunhofer Research Institution for Energy Infrastructures and Geotechnologies IEGThe EU aims to have a net-zero greenhouse gas economy by 2050, with 55% reduction on 1990 levels by 2030. To achieve these goals, geothermal energy is supposed to play a much larger role in the future energy supply system in Europe.
While geothermal resources are well-established in some regions with abundant subsurface data from either a long tradition in geothermal developments or prior hydrocarbon exploitation, a wide-spread application in large parts of Europe requires substantial exploration efforts. To accelerate this process, it is essential to develop fast, reliable and affordable methods to localize suitable geothermal resources and understand reservoir properties prior to drilling.
Objectives
The main objective of GO-Forward is to develop and advance a novel methodological approach to make more accurate pre-drilling predictions of geothermal reservoir properties and thus reduce the mining risk based on a detailed characterization of geological processes leading to reservoir formation.
Such a process-based approach presents a paradigm shift with respect to traditional data-driven workflows in that they simulate geological processes, calibrated to geological or geophysical data, rather than extrapolating the properties from those data with geostatistical methods. By knowing and accurately defining the geological processes that lead to rock and reservoir rock formation, reservoir properties can be predicted even in areas with poor data availability.
The key requirement is an appropriate simulation tool that can handle geological complexity and couple it with the physical and geological processes. Such software tools have already been used for the sedimentary environments relevant for the hydrocarbon industry. These tools will be expanded and further developed to honour the diversity of geological environments encountered in Europe for potential geothermal developments.
