GeoEnergie Suisse AG is developing a pilot and demonstration project for deep geothermal energy in the village of Haute-Sorne (Jura). Planned is a petrothermal deep geothermal project reaching down to 4000 – 5000 m. The system is projected to deliver up to 5 MWe and/or heat for industrial processes as well as district heating. The total project costs are roughly 100 Mio CHF. For the first time, the project will implement the so-called multi-fracture system in a granitic environment. Drilling is scheduled to start in 2017 or 2018.
Phase 1
The SCCER-SoE has already in Phase I collaborated closely with GeoEnergie Suisse AG (GES). The Haute-Sorne type project is a cornerstone of the deep geothermal energy roadmap of the SCCER-SoE and SCCER-SoE scientists played an important role in advancing the project, for example by developing strategies for assessing and mitigating seismic risk, for optimizing the reservoir design and monitoring strategies. The Haute-Sorne Project is also a demonstration site in the EU Horizon2020 funded project DESTRESS (2016 – 2020), where ETH Zurich and GES have together a budget of about 7 Mio Euro.
Phase 2
In Phase II, these links will become even more critical: Enabling the success of the Haute-Sorne project is one of the highest priorities of the deep geothermal energy activities of the SCCER-SoE. Many SCCER-SoE activities will be targeted towards enabling the technology but also in using the data from Haute-Sorne for calibration, upscaling and validation of methods and results, such as strategies for adaptive traffic light seismic monitoring systems, underground heat exchanger design, construction, and optimization, as well as research on optimal fluid circulation and associated heat extraction strategies.