Drilling 3000 Meters For Geothermal Energy

Université de Genève researchers have studied the seismic activity linked to a geothermal drilling in search of supercritical fluids. The concern is destabilizing the precarious equilibrium at depth with geothermal wells may reactivate the geological layers causing earthquakes. They discovered that the drilling did not cause uncontrolled seismic activity. This drilling under such critical conditions suggests that the technology is on the verge of mastering geothermal energy, paving the way for new sources of non-polluting heat and electricity.

How can we meet the growing energy demand while reducing our use of polluting fossil fuels? Geothermal energy is an efficient, non-polluting solution but in certain cases geothermal operations must be handled with care. Reaching the most powerful sources of available energy means drilling deep into the layers of the earth’s crust to find geothermal fluids with high energy content (hot water and gas released by magma). Yet, the deeper we drill the greater are the subsurface unknowns controlling the stability of the Earth’s crust. Destabilizing the precarious equilibrium at depth with geothermal wells may reactivate the geological layers causing earthquakes.

Researchers at the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, working in collaboration with the University of Florence and the National Research Council (CNR) in Italy, have studied the seismic activity linked to a geothermal drilling in search of supercritical fluids.  Their study report has been published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth.

A number of countries, including Switzerland, are already exploiting geothermal energy to produce heat from shallow wells. Down to 1,500 meters such technology normally presents little risk. “To generate electricity, however, we have to drill deeper, which is both a technological and a scientific challenge,” pointed out Matteo Lupi, a professor in the Department of Earth Sciences in UNIGE’s Faculty of Science. In fact, drilling deeper than 1,500 meters requires special care because the unknown factors relating to the subsurface increase. “Below these depths, the stability of the drilling site is more and more difficult and poor decisions could trigger an earthquake,” he said.

The Larderello geothermal field in Tuscany – the world’s oldest – currently produces 10% of the world’s total geothermal electricity supply. We know that at about 3,000 meters depth, we reach a geological layer marked by a seismic reflector, where it is thought that supercritical fluids may be found. Supercritical fluids yield an enormous amount of renewable energy. The term supercritical implies an undefined phase state – neither fluids nor gaseous – and boast a very powerful energy content.

Riccardo Minetto, a researcher in UNIGE’s Department of Earth Sciences explained, “Engineers have been trying since the 1970s to drill down to this famous level at 3,000 meters in Larderello but they still haven’t succeeded. What’s more, we still don’t know exactly what this bed is made up of: is it a transition between molten and solid rocks? Or does it consist of cooled granites releasing fluids trapped at this level?”

The technology is becoming ever more sophisticated. Because of this geothermal drilling in search of supercritical conditions has been attempted once more at Larderello-Tavale.

The aim? Deepening a wellbore few centimeters wide to a depth of 3,000 meters to tap these supercritical fluids. “This drilling, which formed part of the European DESCRAMBLE project, was unique because it targeted the suggested transition between rocks in a solid and molten state,” noted professor Lupi.

The Geneva team set up eight seismic stations around the well within a radius of eight kilometers to measure the impact of the drilling on seismic activity. As the drilling progressed, the geophysicists collected the data and analyzed each difficulty that was encountered.

“The good news is that for the very first time, drilling in search of supercritical fluids caused only minimal seismic disturbance, which was a feat in such conditions and a strong sign of the technological progress that has been made,” explained professor Lupi.

His team used the eight seismic stations to distinguish between the natural seismic activity and the very weak events caused by the drilling. The threshold of 3,000 meters, however, was not reached. “The engineers had to stop about 250 meters from this level as a result of the extremely high temperature increase – over 500 degrees. There’s still room for technical progress on this point,” said Minetto.

This study indicates that the supercritical drilling went well and that the technology is close to being mastered. “Until now, anyone who had tried to sink a well in supercritical conditions did not succeed because of the high temperatures but the results here are extremely encouraging,” said professor Lupi.

Switzerland is itself very active in promoting geothermal energy. This renewable source of energy if developed further would share some of the burden of the country’s hydropower, solar and windpower. “Geothermal energy could be one of the main sources of energy of our future, so it’s only right to promote future investments to develop it further and safely,” concluded the Geneva-based researcher.

One has to admire this group. Drilling that deep into hard rock is quite a feat in itself, not to mention how hot it got. The pressures in the well bore couldn’t be known nor how deep they would get before the temperatures and pressures would bring them to a stop.

The got close, real close. Congratulations to this team! Next up, very high temperature rock drilling technology.