GEMex

  This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 727550.  

Title

Cooperation in Geothermal energy research Europe-Mexico for development of Enhanced Geothermal Systems and Superhot Geothermal Systems

Concept

The GEMex project is a complementary effort of a European consortium with a corresponding consortium from Mexico, who submitted an equivalent proposal for cooperation. The joint effort is based on three pillars:

1 – Resource assessment at two unconventional geothermal sites, for EGS development at Acoculco and for a super-hot resource near Los Humeros. This part will focus on understanding the tectonic evolution, the fracture distribution and hydrogeology of the respective region, and on predicting in-situ stresses and temperatures at depth.

2 – Reservoir characterization using techniques and approaches developed at conventional geothermal sites, including novel geophysical and geological methods to be tested and refined for their application at the two project sites: passive seismic data will be used to apply ambient noise correlation methods, and to study anisotropy by coupling surface and volume waves; newly collected electromagnetic data will be used for joint inversion with the seismic data. For the interpretation of these data, high-pressure/ high-temperature laboratory experiments will be performed to derive the parameters determined on rock samples from Mexico or equivalent materials.

3 – Concepts for Site Development: all existing and newly collected information will be applied to define drill paths, to recommend a design for well completion including suitable material selection, and to investigate optimum stimulation and operation procedures for safe and economic exploitation with control of undesired side effects. These steps will include appropriate measures and recommendations for public acceptance and outreach as well as for the monitoring and control of environmental impact.

Participants

• Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum, Germany (Coordinator)
• Íslenskar Orkurannsóknir, Iceland
• Nederlandse Organisatie voor Toegepast Natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek, Netherlands
• Università degli studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Italy
• Universiteit Utrecht, Netherlands
• Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Italy
• Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany
• Bureau de recherches géologiques et minières, France
• Institutt for energiteknikk, Denmark
• Center For Renewable Energy Sources and Saving Foundation, Greece
• Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale, Italy
• Uni Research AS, Denmark (Participation ended)
• NORCE Norwegian Research Centre AS, Norway
• Università degli studi Roma Tre, Italy
• Agenzia Nazionale per le Nuove Tecnologie, l'Energia e lo Sviluppo economico sostenibile, Italy
• Scuola Superiore di Studi Universitari e di Perfezionamento Sant'Anna, Italy
• Karlsruhe Institut für Technologie, Germany
• United Kingdom Research and Innovation, United Kingdom
• Natural Environment Research Council, United Kingdom (Participation ended)
• Hochschule Bochum, Germany
• Università degli studi di Torino, Italy
• Państwowy Instytut Geologiczny – Państwowy Instytut Badawczy, Poland
• European Geothermal Energy Council, Belgium
• Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung GmbH – UFZ, Germany
• IGA Service GmbH, Germany