DErisking Exploration for geothermal Plays in magmatic ENvironments
DEEPEN
Call 2 2019
The high risks associated with resource availability and the significant costs of upstream exploration are major obstacles to the global expansion of geothermal energy development. Reducing these risks has long been a priority for the sector. The DEEPEN project addresses this challenge by improving the likelihood of success when drilling for geothermal fluids in magmatic systems. The project achieves this through developing better exploration methods and an enhanced framework for interpreting exploration data using the Play Fairway Analysis (PFA) methodology.
The PFA methodology has recently become a key innovation in reducing geothermal resource risk. Adapted from best practices in the oil and gas industries, PFA helps estimate the likelihood of encountering high-temperature fluids, their producibility, and recharge potential. This is done by jointly analyzing multiple geoscientific datasets for a specific area of the Earth's crust. While PFA has been applied successfully to various geothermal play types, further refinement is needed to optimize its use in magmatic environments.
Focusing on magmatic systems is crucial because most geothermal resources currently in production fall within this category. A better understanding of subsurface conditions in these areas could increase drilling success rates, reducing costs and enhancing the economic feasibility of geothermal projects. Moreover, evidence suggests that significant energy potential lies at the lower levels of convective geothermal reservoirs, near magmatic heat sources where superhot conditions exist. Reaching these supercritical fluids (SCF) through deep drilling could unlock new geothermal energy resources. However, improved methodologies for defining drilling targets are essential to achieve this. With its ability to integrate diverse geoscientific data, PFA could be a valuable tool for targeting deeper magmatic geothermal systems.
Key achievements of the DEEPEN project include:
- Developing a PFA methodology tailored to magmatic plays, including the root zones of geothermal systems, by integrating PFA with the creation of generalized conceptual and numerical models for multiple play types within a single magmatic system.
- Creating new tools for subsurface imaging of deep and hot bodies, building on the results of the FP7-IMAGE project.
- Demonstrating the application of the PFA methodology in two magmatic systems: Hengill in Iceland and Newberry Volcano in the U.S. Cascades.
This project represents an important step forward in reducing the risks of geothermal exploration and improving the success rate of drilling in magmatic environments.
Total funding
3.658.928 €
Participant
Germany
Switzerland
France
Norway
the United States
IcelandFinal report
Call 2 Project
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