WP5 Demonstration of cyclic hydraulic and multi-stage treatments in granites and tight sandstones

Lead

GES

Participants

GES, GFZ, UoG, TNO, ETH Zürich, GTN, NEXGEO Inc., SNU, KICT

Deliverables

D5.1 Description of individual completion elements required to segment EGS reservoir section, such as water swellable packer, large bore sliding sleeves, and fibre-optic across a large bore segmented wellbore

D5.2 Demonstration of reservoir treatment (cyclic stimulation) and long-term performance of energy production for the site Pohang (optional Groß Schönebeck)

D5.3 Demonstration of multi stage reservoir treatment and long-term performance of energy production for the site Haute-Sorne 

D5.4 Report on ways and methods to lower the technical, geological and financial risks currently associated to EGS.

The demonstration of cyclic hydraulic treatments and of multi-stage stimulation in granites, granodiorites and/or tight sandstones is a crucial part of DESTRESS. The aim is to show a treatment method applied with reduced seismic and environmental risks and plannable results. Part of the work involves developing specific components for the multi-stage stimulation, such as a packer and fibre-optic connection device. The experience gained through the demonstration will provide good practices or standards for future applications. These practices are expected to evolve over time as experiments from demonstration sites and conclusions from data analysis become available. Evaluation of the results will include an economic aspect, comparing the cost of the treatment with the improvement in performance. Continuous knowledge transfer for implementation in other environments at various sites is also planned.

The soft stimulation method using the fatigue hydraulic fracturing concept will be applied at existing and newly developed EGS sites. The operations will be conducted after a careful assessment of the hazards, including induced seismicity. For each proposed demonstration site, a detailed work programme will be drawn up and pre-stimulation will be performed and evaluated in order to ascertain the hydraulic properties of the reservoir.

Application and adaption of the concept to selected sites will include individual scheduling of field stimulation treatments to demonstrate their utilisation for granites/granodiorites in Pohang, South Korea. As a fallback solution, volcanic rocks and tight sandstones in Groß Schönebeck, Germany, will be available. The granites at Haute-Sorne, Switzerland, have been chosen to demonstrate the feasibility of segmenting to selectively inject a stimulation treatment and to provide long-term reservoir management under deep geothermal conditions.