ICGC participates in European project to better assess potential geothermal resources

The Institut Cartogràfic i Geològic de Catalunya (ICGC), a member of GEOPLAT, will be part of the consortium of the Horizon Europe project GO-Forward, which aims to increase the accuracy of the methods traditionally used to assess the potential of deep geothermal reservoirs in a given area.

This new methodology is based on a detailed characterisation of the geological processes leading to the formation of the reservoir with geothermal energy potential. Therefore, the new approach simulates geological processes instead of extrapolating data, as is done when using traditional geostatistical methods.

The ICGC will work in collaboration with the British Geological Survey and the University of Bari (Italy) in the application phase of the new modelling tools to analyse a specific type of geothermal reservoirs, the fractured ones, i.e. those where the rocks have a high density of fractures of natural origin and at the same time a high temperature. These tools will be adapted and adjusted beforehand by means of a specific study in Cornwall, United Kingdom. Subsequently, the ICGC will bring data from several case studies to Catalonia to carry out modelling work on the same type of reservoirs associated with the Vallès rift valley, which has great potential for obtaining high temperatures.

Deep geothermal energy is an energy resource present in several places in Catalonia that, despite being little known, has a high potential for exploitation as a source of renewable energy.

The project, which will involve 12 European partners from eight different countries, will run from mid-2024 to mid-2028.