The overall objective of the present GFK-Monitor project is to increase the production and operational safety of geothermal plants and their efficiency, to minimize or avoid potential environmental impacts. For this purpose, the project will develop a comprehensive integrity management system for geothermal plants by using operational data, further developing innovative monitoring techniques of fiber optic cable technology and, if possible, integrating them into existing data infrastructure. This system integrity management should significantly support the operators of a geothermal plant to reduce technical and financial risks and to carry out a sustainable and careful management of the reservoir to ensure the economically and ecologically efficient use of deep geothermal energy. At the same time, the acceptance of this technology among the population is to be further increased. The developed monitoring tools and integrative methods will also be applicable to other sites.
Time frame
- 1. 7. 2022 – 30. 6. 2025
Funding
- Federal ministry for economic affairs and climate action via PtJ
Principal Investigators
- Prof. Dr. Charlotte Krawczyk (GFZ Potsdam)
)Personnel
- Johannes Hart (GFZ Potsdam)
Project Website
Cooperations
- Technische Universität München – Lehrstuhl Hydrogeologie: Monitoring von Reservoir-Interaktionen zur Verbesserung der Betriebssicherheit
- Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ: Ortsverteilte faseroptische Messungen
- Fraunhofer-Einrichtung für Energieinfrastrukturen und Geothermie IEG, Bochum: Überwachung der Bohrlochintegrität und der Tauchkreiselpumpe mittels Glasfasertechnologie
- SWM Services GmbH, München: Entwicklungen zur Systemintegrität in der Geothermieproduktion
- Georg-August-Universität Göttingen – Geowissenschaftliches Zentrum der Universität Göttingen – Abt. Angewandte Geologie: Gesamtfrachtkontrolle künstlicher Tracer in großräumig wechselwirkenden Thermalwasserkreisläufen
Methods & Equipment
- Distributed fiber optic sensing: Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) approx. 20 km horizontal loop (dark fiber) and approx. 4 km downhole section and Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS)
Additional Information
Overall Objective Subproject: Insitu observation of fluid movement and deformation in the subsurface is the fundamental goal of our research, which is relevant to a wide range of applications. In deep geothermal energy, both feasibility and safety are on the test bench here. Since the comprehensive monitoring of different areas of a geothermal plant, from the reservoir to the pump, is to be combined, the goal of the GFZ subproject is to carry out the essential determination and evaluation of elastic reservoir properties and processes. For this purpose, both processes of the geosystem (horizontal fiber optic section) and the properties in the reservoir (vertical fiber optic section) to be measured in the well will be made visible and their effects will be investigated. The so far little coupled and efficient evaluation of this Big Data will finally be used as a result in the concept development of a system integrity management.
