Speaker
Description
Deutsche Erdwärme GmbH & Co. KG is today the largest German private geothermal project developer and future operator in the German part of the Upper Rhine Graben area. The company currently holds ca. 1000 km² of granted project concession area in the two federal states of Baden Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. Backed with strong financial support by public (or strategic) investors Deutsche Erdwärme intends to realize and operate a portfolio of geothermal plants on the Upper Rhine in the coming years. At the same time, further exploration permits are to be acquired in order to develop additional, promising areas in the region for electricity and heat production from deep geothermal energy resources.
Currently the company’s main activities are in the field of 3D seismic data acquisition, regional structural interpretation , execution of reservoir studies to identify favourable target zones and site selection for planned drilling activities. The reservoir assessment includes structural geological and geomechanical as well as thermo-hydraulic modelling based on 3D seismic data and all available borehole data in the region. After an initial quality check further acquirement of raw data and/or reprocessing will be performed to ensure the best data quality is available for the project portfolio. The aim is to understand the resource on different scales to optimize the exploration concept and well design. First results on reservoir studies and exploration concepts will be discussed. At present, DEW is preparing an own 3D seismic campaign in the Waghäusel concession north of Karlsruhe to be executed in November/December 2019. Furthermore, existing projects in the area, that have been ceased in the past for different reasons, will be re-evaluated with the aim of a reactivation. The current status of all these activities will be presented.
