How an oil service company is moving into renewable space
It is well known that elements such as copper, nickel and lithium are in high demand to provide materials needed for the energy transition. It is less well-known that chemical…
Geothermal
Geothermal energy production can be profitable
“It kept me in the job”, said Elliot Yearsley when asked about scale and corrosion in geothermal wells by a participant during the recent Seapex Conference in Singapore. Yearsley had…
A shallow geothermal borehole in a single day
“We’re operating five rigs continuously across the UK,” Ashley Lowthian from GreenGlove Boreholes tells me when I visit him and his colleague at a drill site in Garthdee, Aberdeen. Ashley…
The production chemistry challenges of geothermal energy
“The geothermal industry requires a much tighter control on scale formation than the oil and gas industry”, said Peter Wilkie from Roemex in a talk delivered during SPE’s online Geothermal…
Mapping a fault using induced seismic events
Twenty years ago, Australia saw the start of a big geothermal project in deeply buried basement rocks. Situated in the Cooper Basin, the project included several phases of production testing…
Steamy headlines do not guarantee steamy results
“The geothermal potential of Geneva is confirmed”, stated the press release that was issued by website geothermies.ch in November 2022. This headline was not the result of a successful geothermal…
The Schwerin Sweet Spot
The current energy situation, together with a favourable geological setting and recent technical advances, have put the Schwerin geothermal project back on the radar big time. Schwerin, the capital of…
Hamburg geothermal well should have been drilled in another location
There is a lot of public and political pressure to make the energy transition a success. Germany is a country that faces this pressure too, further augmented by a strong…
Drilling into the top of a salt dome results in unexpected temperatures
There is a huge drive to reduce the use of gas for heating in the Netherlands. However, whilst the share of renewables in electricity generation is increasing, heat demand in…
Cold water injection may cause earthquakes
A newly published study points to injected water from geothermal projects as the main driver for induced seismic events.
The tyranny of distance
Even though geothermal sweet spots are not always where demand is, Australia has potential to tap into this subsurface resource.
Hamburg – not as hot as expected
Despite positive news on a shallower reservoir, the deeper reservoir turns out not productive enough.