The full-day event of 11 October gathered 24 scientists and engineers from more than twenty institutions or companies located in Europe (Denmark, France, Germany, Turkey), Canada and the US. Whereas some of them contribute to the Horizon 2020 projects DESTRESS (EnBW, GFZ, Unistra, ES-Géothermie) and DEEPEGS (HS Orka, BRGM, KIT), others are not directly involved in these European programs. ES-Géothermie was really happy to welcome such a diverse group of participants. The site visits started with a presentation introducing the geothermal plants in Soultz-sous-Forêts and Rittershoffen. After lunch in a local restaurant, it continued with a visit of the Soultz-sous-Forêts power plant and the Rittershoffen heat plant. It was closed by a presentation about the on-going work in DESTRESS WP 4.3, concerning the chemical stimulation of the well GPK4 in Soultz-sous-Forêts.

In the discussions focusing on soft stimulation, the following topics were emphasized: natural permeability in fractured crystalline rocks, induced seismicity, natural radioactivity, fluid composition, environmental impacts of a geothermal plant, regulations about deep geothermal energy in Northern Alsace and social acceptance in a rural area. In addition, the long history of the Soultz project, which has started 30 years ago, was of big interest for the participants. Further, the successful operation of the new geothermal project in Rittershoffen producing a natural brine from deep fractured rocks was presented in detail.

The half-day visit on 14 October gathered a smaller group of participants for site visits only. The DEEPEGS project was represented by HS Orka, DESTRESS by ES-Géothermie.