Articles

Monitoring the impact of intensive shallow geothermal energy use on groundwater temperatures in a residential neighborhood

The use of shallow geothermal energy increasingly receives attention as a suitable alternative to fossil fuel-based space heating and cooling, warm water provision, as well as for seasonal heat storage through...

Authors: Thomas Vienken, Manuel Kreck and Peter Dietrich

The layered model of the Copahue geothermal reservoir, Argentina

An exhaustive review of the available data related to the reservoir of the volcano-hosted Copahue geothermal system is presented. Reservoir interpretation to date suggests a vapor-dominated nature. However, th...

Authors: Hernan Barcelona, Daniel Yagupsky and Mariano Agusto

The characterisation of an exhumed high-temperature paleo-geothermal system on Terre-de-Haut Island (the Les Saintes archipelago, Guadeloupe) in terms of clay minerals and petrophysics

The volcanic island of Terre-de-Haut (in the Les Saintes archipelago, Lesser Antilles arc) is described in the literature as an exhumed paleo-geothermal system. Outcropping conditions provide a good, nearly ho...

Authors: Gildas Beauchamps, Béatrice Ledésert, Ronan Hébert, Vivien Navelot and Alexiane Favier

GEOPHIRES v2.0: updated geothermal techno-economic simulation tool

This paper presents a new version (v2.0) of the geothermal techno-economic simulation tool GEOPHIRES [GEOthermal energy for Production of Heat and electricity (“IR”) Economically Simulated]. GEOPHIRES combines...

Authors: Koenraad F. Beckers and Kevin McCabe

Hydrochemical aspects of high-temperature aquifer storage in carbonaceous aquifers: evaluation of a field study

Aquifer thermal energy storage systems in the sediments of the Upper Jurassic in the north-eastern part of the Bavarian Molasse Basin seem to be feasible in terms of the hydrogeological and hydrochemical setti...

Authors: Martina Ueckert and Thomas Baumann

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Predictability and controlling factors of overpressure in the North Alpine Foreland Basin, SE Germany: an interdisciplinary post-drill analysis of the Geretsried GEN-1 deep geothermal well

For the first time, drilling- and velocity-based well analysis and 3D basin modeling were combined to test the predictability and controlling factors of overpressure in the North Alpine Foreland Basin in SE Ge...

Authors: Michael C. Drews, Peter Hofstetter, Kai Zosseder, Robert Straubinger, Andreas Gahr and Harald Stollhofen

Three-dimensional geologic mapping to assess geothermal potential: examples from Nevada and Oregon

Geologic structure plays an important role in controlling fluid flow in geothermal systems. In particular, very complex structural settings, consisting of many closely spaced and intersecting faults, host many...

Authors: Drew L. Siler, James E. Faulds, Nicholas H. Hinz, Gregory M. Dering, Joel H. Edwards and Brett Mayhew

Correction to: Cyclic soft stimulation (CSS): a new fluid injection protocol and traffic light system to mitigate seismic risks of hydraulic stimulation treatments

After publication of the article [1], it has been brought to our attention that there is an error in Figure 7. Instead of the “2” in the first row of the green and yellow stages of the traffic light system it ...

Authors: Hannes Hofmann, Günter Zimmermann, Arno Zang and Ki‑Bok Min

Numerical analysis of the role of radiogenic basement on temperature distribution in the St. Lawrence Lowlands, Québec

Regions with low or medium surface heat flow in stable cratonic areas, such as in eastern Canada, have received little attention for geothermal energy. In the presence of a high heat-producing basement overlai...

Authors: Hejuan Liu, Bernard Giroux, Lyal B. Harris, Steve M. Quenette and John Mansour

The influence of hydrothermal brine on the short-term strength and elastic modulus of sandstones from exploration well EPS-1 at Soultz-sous-Forêts (France)

Laboratory studies designed to provide the strength of rocks are typically performed on either dry- or water-saturated rock samples. To better understand the mechanical behaviour of rocks in a geothermal conte...

Authors: Michael J. Heap, Thierry Reuschlé, Alexandra R. L. Kushnir and Patrick Baud

Review of failure modes in supercritical geothermal drilling projects

Supercritical geothermal resources located close to the transition between the brittle–ductile zone have been proven to exist at drillable depths. This was demonstrated by several deep geothermal drilling camp...

Authors: Michal Kruszewski and Volker Wittig

Cyclic soft stimulation (CSS): a new fluid injection protocol and traffic light system to mitigate seismic risks of hydraulic stimulation treatments

Hydraulic stimulation treatments are standard techniques to access geologic resources which cannot economically be exploited with conventional methods. Fluid injection into unproductive formations may increase...

Authors: Hannes Hofmann, Günter Zimmermann, Arno Zang and Ki-Bok Min

Social shaping of deep geothermal projects in Alsace: politics, stakeholder attitudes and local democracy

This paper examines the social, cultural and political factors that favor or disrupt deep geothermal energy projects in Alsace. The research was conducted in the Risk Governance package of the H2020 DESTRESS p...

Authors: Philippe Chavot, Christine Heimlich, Anne Masseran, Yeny Serrano, Jean Zoungrana and Cyrille Bodin

Correction to: How do the geological and geophysical signatures of permeable fractures in granitic basement evolve after long periods of natural circulation? Insights from the Rittershoffen geothermal wells (France)

After publication of the article (Glaas et al. 2018), it has been brought to our attention that there are some errors. The authors have listed them below.

Authors: C. Glaas, A. Genter, J. F. Girard, P. Patrier and J. Vidal

Fluid pressure drops during stimulation of segmented faults in deep geothermal reservoirs

Hydraulic stimulation treatments required to produce deep geothermal reservoirs present the risk of generating induced seismicity. Understanding the processes that operate during the stimulation phase is criti...

Authors: Guillem Piris, Albert Griera, Enrique Gomez-Rivas, Ignasi Herms, Mark W. McClure and Jack H. Norbeck

Triaxial testing and hydraulic–mechanical modeling of sandstone reservoir rock in the Upper Rhine Graben

The Upper Rhine Graben (URG) is a highly favorable location for deep geothermal energy utilization. One of the main reservoir horizons is the lower Triassic Buntsandstein formation. While quantification of the...

Authors: Robert Egert, Robin Seithel, Thomas Kohl and Ingrid Stober

THM modeling of hydrothermal circulation at Rittershoffen geothermal site, France

The Rittershoffen deep geothermal project located 6 km east from Soultz-sous-Forts EGS site (France) includes a doublet GRT-1 and GRT-2 to exploit the geothermal resource at the sediments–granite transition wh...

Authors: Bérénice Vallier, Vincent Magnenet, Jean Schmittbuhl and Christophe Fond

Coda wave interferometry during the heating of deep geothermal reservoir rocks

Coda wave interferometry (CWI) is a high-resolution technique that aims at tracking small changes in a diffusive medium from the time correlation of seismic waveforms. CWI has been widely used in recent years ...

Authors: Jérôme Azzola, Luke Griffiths, Jean Schmittbuhl, Dimitri Zigone, Vincent Magnenet, Frédéric Masson, Michael Heap and Patrick Baud

Validation of hydrogeochemical databases for problems in deep geothermal energy

Hydrogeochemical modelling has become an important tool for the exploration and optimisation of deep hydrogeothermal energy resources. However, well-established software and model concepts are often run outsid...

Authors: Thorsten Hörbrand, Thomas Baumann and Helge C. Moog

New results on the gravity monitoring (2014–2017) of Soultz-sous-Forêts and Rittershoffen geothermal sites (France)

This article presents the study of the mass redistribution associated with the geothermal energy exploitation of the Soultz-sous-Forêts and Rittershoffen plants by microgravity monitoring in the period 2014–20...

Authors: Nolwenn Portier, Jacques Hinderer, Umberto Riccardi, Gilbert Ferhat, Marta Calvo, Yassine Abdelfettah and Jean-Daniel Bernard

Evaluating efficiency and stability of calcite scaling inhibitors at high pressure and high temperature in laboratory scale

Reduction or prevention of scaling is commonly achieved by injecting scaling inhibitors into the geothermal circuit. Inhibitor-efficiency tests can be carried out in static or dynamic experiment set-ups allowi...

Authors: Joerg Zotzmann, Alexandra Vetter and Simona Regenspurg

Borehole damaging under thermo-mechanical loading in the RN-15/IDDP-2 deep well: towards validation of numerical modeling using logging images

A wider exploitation of deep geothermal reservoir requires the development of Enhanced Geothermal System technology. In this context, drilling and stimulation of high-enthalpy geothermal wells raise technical ...

Authors: M. Peter-Borie, A. Loschetter, I. A. Merciu, G. Kampfer and O. Sigurdsson

Characterizing the physical properties of rocks from the Paleozoic to Permo-Triassic transition in the Upper Rhine Graben

Geothermal energy exploitation in the Upper Rhine Graben currently targets high-temperature anomalies in the crystalline Paleozoic basement at depths up to 5 km. However, at certain locations (e.g. Rittershoff...

Authors: Alexandra R. L. Kushnir, Michael J. Heap, Patrick Baud, H. Albert Gilg, Thierry Reuschlé, Catherine Lerouge, Chrystel Dezayes and Philippe Duringer

Temperature sensor module for groundwater flow detection around borehole heat exchangers

We present a temperature sensor module (TSM) for detecting the groundwater flow velocity and direction in the vicinity of a borehole heat exchanger (BHE). We demonstrate the method for double U-tube BHEs, whic...

Authors: Alexander Michalski and Norbert Klitzsch

How do the geological and geophysical signatures of permeable fractures in granitic basement evolve after long periods of natural circulation? Insights from the Rittershoffen geothermal wells (France)

Two deep wells were drilled at Rittershoffen (Alsace, France) to produce high-temperature fluids to supply heat to a biorefinery. The GRT-2 production well was drilled to a depth of 3196 m MD and was deviated ...

Authors: C. Glaas, A. Genter, J. F. Girard, P. Patrier and J. Vidal

Structure and nature of the Palaeozoic basement based on magnetic, gravimetric and seismic investigations in the central Upper Rhinegraben

New and old magnetic and gravimetric data acquired in the frame of a geothermal project have been processed in N. Vosges and the adjacent Rhinegraben in order to identify the nature and tectonic framework of t...

Authors: J. B. Edel, V. Maurer, E. Dalmais, A. Genter, A. Richard, O. Letourneau and R. Hehn

On the applicability of the moving line source theory to thermal response test under groundwater flow: considerations from real case studies

The classical methodology to perform and analyze thermal response test (TRT) is unsuccessful when advection contributes to heat transfer in the ground, due to the presence of a groundwater flow. In this study,...

Authors: Adriana Angelotti, Franco Ly and Andrea Zille

Estimating in situ rock mass strength and elastic modulus of granite from the Soultz-sous-Forêts geothermal reservoir (France)

Knowledge of the strength and elastic modulus of a reservoir rock is important for the optimisation of a particular geothermal resource. The reservoir rock for many geothermal projects in the Upper Rhine Grabe...

Authors: Marlène C. Villeneuve, Michael J. Heap, Alexandra R. L. Kushnir, Tao Qin, Patrick Baud, Guanglei Zhou and Tao Xu

Optimization of operating parameters of earth air tunnel heat exchanger for space cooling: Taguchi method approach

In the present study, CFD-based parametric analysis is carried out to optimise the parameters affecting the temperature drop and heat transfer rate achieved from earth air tunnel heat exchanger (EATHE) system....

Authors: Kamal Kumar Agrawal, Mayank Bhardwaj, Rohit Misra, Ghanshyam Das Agrawal and Vikas Bansal

Hydrochemistry and geothermometry of thermal water in northeastern Morocco

Thermal water in northeastern Morocco is a promising, sustainable resource of energy. To date, thermal water has not been used as a source of renewable energy in Morocco as no clear strategy has yet been devel...

Authors: Abdelhakim Jilali, Abdelkarim Chamrar and Abdelilah El Haddar

Toward performance-driven seismic risk monitoring for geothermal platforms: development of ad hoc fragility curves

Earthquakes, despite being a mostly natural phenomenon, may also be induced by a wide range of anthropogenic activities such as mining, fluid injection and extraction, hydraulic fracturing and geothermal reser...

Authors: Konstantinos G. Megalooikonomou, Stefano Parolai and Massimiliano Pittore

Modeling fracture cementation processes in calcite limestone: a phase-field study

The present work investigates the influence of crack opening rates on the development of four important calcite vein morphologies, namely fibrous, elongate-blocky, partially open, and euhedral, as a result of ...

Authors: Nishant Prajapati, Michael Selzer, Britta Nestler, Benjamin Busch and Christoph Hilgers

The effect of temperature-dependent thermal conductivity on the geothermal structure of the Sydney Basin

The thermal structure of continental crust is a critical factor for geothermal exploration, hydrocarbon maturation and crustal strength, and yet our understanding of it is limited by our incomplete knowledge o...

Authors: Alexandre Lemenager, Craig O’Neill, Siqi Zhang and Morgan Evans

Geothermal exploration in a sedimentary basin: new continuous temperature data and physical rock properties from northern Oman

The lateral and vertical temperature distribution in Oman is so far only poorly understood, particularly in the area between Muscat and the Batinah coast, which is the area of this study and which is composed ...

Authors: Felina Schütz, Gerd Winterleitner and Ernst Huenges

Doped bentonitic grouts for implementing performances of low-enthalpy geothermal systems

Mechanical (flexural and uniaxial compressive strengths) and physical (thermal conductivity) properties of two new bentonitic grouts doped with 5 and 10% of graphite powder are discussed in this work and evalu...

Authors: Marco Viccaro

Geologic framework of the Fang Hot Springs area with emphasis on structure, hydrology, and geothermal development, Chiang Mai Province, northern Thailand

Geologic mapping, a magnetotelluric survey, well data, and earlier reports are integrated to guide further development of the Fang geothermal system. The Fang Hot Springs originally flowed ~ 20 l s⁻¹ of 90–99 °C ...

Authors: Spencer H. Wood, Pichet Kaewsomwang and Fongsaward Suvagonda Singharajwarapan

Matrix permeability of reservoir rocks, Ngatamariki geothermal field, Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand

The Taupo Volcanic Zone (TVZ) hosts 23 geothermal fields, seven of which are currently utilised for power generation. Ngatamariki geothermal field (NGF) is one of the latest geothermal power generation develop...

Authors: J. L. Cant, P. A. Siratovich, J. W. Cole, M. C. Villeneuve and B. M. Kennedy

A numerical investigation of combined heat storage and extraction in deep geothermal reservoirs

Heat storage capabilities of deep sedimentary geothermal reservoirs are evaluated through numerical model simulations. We combine storage with heat extraction in a doublet well system when storage phases are r...

Authors: Márton Major, Søren Erbs Poulsen and Niels Balling

Effect of an 860-m thick, cold, freshwater aquifer on geothermal potential along the axis of the eastern Snake River Plain, Idaho

A 1912-m exploration corehole was drilled along the axis of the eastern Snake River Plain, Idaho. Two temperature logs run on the corehole display an obvious inflection point at about 960 m. Such behavior is i...

Authors: Thomas E. Lachmar, Thomas G. Freeman, Christopher J. Sant, Jeffrey R. Walker, Joseph F. Batir, John W. Shervais, James P. Evans, Dennis L. Nielson and David D. Blackwell

Analysis of geothermal energy as an alternative source for electricity in Colombia

Geothermal energy is the energy that is stored inside the earth and which may be used by man either directly (with no transformation) or to generate electricity by means of a geothermal power plant. This artic...

Authors: Samuel S. Salazar, Yecid Muñoz and Adalberto Ospino

Microstructural and petrophysical properties of the Permo-Triassic sandstones (Buntsandstein) from the Soultz-sous-Forêts geothermal site (France)

Geothermal projects in the Upper Rhine Graben aim to harness thermal anomalies that have arisen due to hydrothermal circulation within the granitic basement and the overlying Permo-Triassic sedimentary units. ...

Authors: Michael J. Heap, Alexandra R. L. Kushnir, H. Albert Gilg, Fabian B. Wadsworth, Thierry Reuschlé and Patrick Baud

The element-release mechanisms of two pyrite-bearing siliciclastic rocks from the North German Basin at temperatures up to 90 °C under oxic and anoxic conditions

Leaching tests with synthetic brines (25 g/L NaCl) between 25 °C and 90 °C were performed under oxic and anoxic conditions over 7 days on two pyrite-bearing siliciclastic rocks from the Lower Jurassic Hettangi...

Authors: Daniel Richard Müller and Simona Regenspurg

Predictability of properties of a fractured geothermal reservoir: the opportunities and limitations of an outcrop analogue study

Minimizing exploration risk in deep geothermics is of great economic importance. Especially, knowledge about temperature and permeability of the reservoir is essential. We test the potential of an outcrop anal...

Authors: Johanna F. Bauer, Michael Krumbholz, Silke Meier and David C. Tanner

Correction to: Flow-through experiments on the interaction of sandstone with Ba-rich fluids at geothermal conditions

After publication of the article (Orywall et al. 2017), it has been brought to our attention that there are a number of errors. The authors have listed them below.

Authors: Pia Orywall, Kirsten Drüppel, Dietmar Kuhn, Thomas Kohl, Michael Zimmermann and Elisabeth Eiche

Numerical analysis for ground temperature variation

This paper aims to predict ground temperature variation with depth for time variant ambient air temperature and solar radiation data for Jamshedpur, India. Finite difference method has been used to discretise ...

Authors: Raviranjan Kumar Singh and Ram Vinoy Sharma

The new Geothermal Energy: Science, Society, and Technology

Authors: Olaf Kolditz, Luis Carlos Gutiérrez-Negrín, Ernst Huenges, Leslie Jakobs, Thomas Kohl and Inga Moeck

Flow-through experiments on the interaction of sandstone with Ba-rich fluids at geothermal conditions

It is commonly known that heat extraction and decompression can lead to mineral precipitation and reservoir clogging in geothermal systems. In the Upper Rhine Graben, the precipitating minerals are mainly bari...

Authors: Pia Orywall, Kirsten Drüppel, Dietmar Kuhn, Thomas Kohl, Michael Zimmermann and Elisabeth Eiche

Concepts of modeling surface energy anisotropy in phase-field approaches

To simulate the growth of geological veins, it is necessary to model the crystal shape anisotropy. Two different models, classical and natural models, which incorporate the surface energy anisotropy into the obje...

Authors: Oleg Tschukin, Alexander Silberzahn, Michael Selzer, Prince G. K. Amos, Daniel Schneider and Britta Nestler

Workshop “Geothermal fluids in saline systems”

Earth’s crust offers a vast resource of heat that can be used and converted into energy both for electricity and heating/cooling purposes. The utilization of this geothermal energy can make an important contri...

Authors: Simona Regenspurg and Thorsten Schäfer

Performance of geothermal power plants (single, dual, and binary) to compensate for LHC-CERN power consumption: comparative study

The aim of this study is to compare between single flash, dual flash, and binary power plants in terms of the power generated, their performance, and the related cost. The results from the comparison are used ...

Authors: M. El Haj Assad, E. Bani-Hani and M. Khalil