| Title | Geothermal Development in Europe considering EGS technologies and The Deep Drilling Project |
|---|---|
| Authors | Villarroel C, D |
| Year | 2016 |
| Conference | European Geothermal Congress |
| Keywords | Geothermal energy, EGS systems, deep drilling, Soultz, Icelandic Deep Drilling Project, supercritical fluid |
| Abstract | Three components are necessary to form a hydrothermal system: A heat source, water, and permeability. However, in case that a convective hydrothermal resource cannot be found or its exploitation would difficult, an Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS), also known as Engineered Geothermal Systems, is an option to artificially create hydrothermal resources creating permeability through hydraulic stimulation or fracturing and maintaining fluid circulation through these fracture networks. The traditional geothermal plants are limited by the size and specific location of its hydrothermal reservoirs, also are normally considered as stations of sustainable energy due to depends on management and engineering of the reservoir and its exploitation is commonly limited. Given the cots and limited full-scale system research to date. There are no commercial-scale EGS plants to date and its research is only limited to pilot projects. The technology is promising, one study of MIT projected that EGS could reach an installed capacity of 100,000 MW in United States by 2050 for instance. It would make EGS one of the most important renewable energy technologies in future. Currently in Europe, the Soultz geothermal project in France is one of the most famous EGS systems providing 1.5 MWe using an Organic Rankine Cycle, this project has provided important information regarding the numerical modelling and the hydrothermo-mechanical conditions of the fluid between others. The Iceland Deep Drilling Project (IDDP) is a long term study of high-temperature hydrothermal systems in Iceland which aim is to determine if utilizing supercritical geothermal fluids would improve the economics of power production of geothermal fields. In fact, this require drilling wells to a depth of about 5 km in order to reach temperatures of 450 °C to 600 °C. In this conditions every single well can produce approximately 4 times more energy than a conventional geothermal well at 3 times less price. In order to provide energy in large scale in an economically feasible way, the EGS systems and the Deep Drilling are still in study and most likely they will be the answer to those challenges. Until now, both have contributing with knowledge and new ideas about the hydrothermal systems and how it can be changed and/or modified. |