As of January 1, 2021, Simona Regenspurg has taken over the leadership of Section 4.8 Geoenergy from Ernst Huenges.

Simona Regenspurg has been working as a research associate at Section 4.8 Geoenergy since 2009 and is head of the working group "Geothermal Fluids". The focus of her research is on the study of geochemical processes that take place during the operation of geothermal plants. The studies of her research group are at the interface with other main topics of the section, such as geothermal exploration, reservoir engineering, monitoring and plant engineering.

Simona Regenspurg studied geology/hydrogeology at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich and completed research stays in the USA, Sweden and Switzerland. She habilitated and teaches at the Free University of Berlin. In the future, she sees a focus of the Geoenergy Section in strengthening research in the Berlin-Brandenburg region on the topics of deep geothermal energy, heat and hydrogen storage at established research platforms such as the in-situ geothermal laboratory Groß Schönebeck and new research sites such as Berlin-Adlershof.

 In 1994, Ernst Huenges had taken over the leadership of the project area at the GFZ that dealt with physical properties of rocks. He established the topic of geothermal energy as a research focus at the GFZ and led the development of research infrastructures such as the rock physics laboratories and the geothermal research platform Groß Schönebeck. Since the beginning of the Helmholtz Association's program-oriented research, he was topic spokesman for Geothermal Technologies and Geothermal Energy Systems, respectively, and he is one of the initiators of European cooperation in geothermal research. Ernst Huenges is still active at the GFZ, among others as project leader of the European research project DESTRESS. 

Further information:

• Groß Schönebeck
• Project GeoFern
• Project DESTRESS - Demonstration of soft stimulation treatments of geothermal reservoirs