Swiss Seismic Service and ETH Zurich aim to make geothermal energy safer | Think about GeoEnergy

Geothermal Hellishide Station, Planned Resource Park site for ON Power (Source: ThinkGeoEnergy)

The Swiss Seismic Service (Seismic Service) and ETH Zurich are making the development of geothermal energy safer with new software and computing power for supercomputers.

The Swiss Seismic Service and ETH Zurich want to make geothermal energy safer, so the news story from Switzerland earlier this month. This will be possible thanks to the new software and the computing power of high-end computers. Iceland’s first geothermal tests have been conducted, and more will follow in the Bedretto laboratory.

In areas with volcanic activity, the operating conditions of geothermal power plants are ideal. In Iceland, the Hellishide Power Plant makes an important contribution to sustainable energy use.

Deep geothermal energy still has potential. This is the basis of the energy strategy of 2050. While the inexhaustible energy source in volcanic active regions along the fault regions of the Earth’s crust can be exploited with relatively little effort, reaching continents is often more difficult and dangerous. Because Switzerland’s geology creates more difficult conditions for sustainable energy production.

Improve the water permeability of rocks

On the one hand, you have to dig four to five kilometers deep to reach the hot layers of Earth in Switzerland. It is only in this depth that temperatures between 160 and 180 ° C can be reached, which is necessary for an economically usable toilet. On the other hand, the problem of low permeability with rocks arises at these depths. “We need permeability at least 10 billion, but you can only find a thousand parts of this value at a depth of four to five kilometers,” says Thomas Dresner, a professor at the Institute of Geochemistry and Petrology at ETH Zurich.

In order to improve permeability, water is pumped into the ground using a so-called “break”. Water works against friction, that is, fracture surfaces turn against each other and tensions are released. This hydraulic stimulus expands fractures in the rock so that water can circulate in the hot crust. Fractures in the Earth’s crust arise from tectonic tensions, caused by Switzerland in the Adriatic plate, which moves north and presses against the Eurasian plate.

In addition to geothermal energy, the Advanced Traffic Signal System can also be used in underground construction or in construction projects to store carbon dioxide.

The earthquake due to water injection

The disadvantage of this hydraulic stimulus is the vibrations, which are often too weak or cannot be seen without measuring instruments. But this was not the case with geothermal energy projects in St. Gallen 2013 and Basel 2016. A total of about 11,000 cubic meters of water was pumped into the wellbore in Basel, causing pressure to rise. Using statistical surveys, size 2.4 and 2.9 determined two boundary values ​​for the maximum permissible magnitude of the generated earthquakes. If accessed, the water supply is stopped.

In Basel, however, there were a series of vibrations after a loud thunder, with a time delay there were stronger earthquakes, which astounded the population. In both cities, earthquakes were recorded with a strength greater than 3. Since then, it has been clear that reaching the threshold values ​​is what determines the stoppage of water drainage, but this does not guarantee safety during the actual drilling process.

Simulated during stimulation

SED and ETH Zurich take a new approach that can be used to predict in real time during hydraulic stimulation whether observed earthquakes are expected in the next cycle. This will be made possible by the so-called “advanced traffic signaling system” based on rock physics, a program developed by SED, which analyzes a high-performance computer.

Geophones measure ground vibrations around the well, which act as indicators of the potential for observed earthquakes. The supercomputer then goes through millions of potential scenarios based on the number and type of expected fractures, friction and rock tensions. Finally, you can filter the scenario that better reflects underground.

Other tests in the mountain

However, the research still currently lacks any real system test facility, because incorrect measurements must be eliminated and a certain format of data must be adhered to before calculations on the supercomputer. The first tests were conducted in Iceland last year, and more will follow in the Bedretto Geothermal Laboratory in late summer. The best between increasing the permeability of rock layers and adequate water supply can now be found.

The new approach could make geothermal energy safer and ultimately help this energy source become more acceptable. The research also finds areas of application where earthquakes occur artificially, such as in underground mining or in storing carbon dioxide underground.

Source: Baublatt

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