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Sustainable and cost-efficient Concepts enabling green power production frOM suPercriticAl/Superhot geothermal wellS (COMPASS)

Project description

The future of geothermal energy is in the drilling

Geothermal wells drilled into superhot conditions may provide access to new resources below the reach of conventional geothermal wells. Moreover, such wells could yield significantly more power than conventional ones. This would reduce the environmental footprint of geothermal utilisation both in land use and in the number of wells required for power generation. The EU-funded COMPASS project will address the main technical challenges of drilling into superhot formations. Those challenges include well integrity issues due to high temperature, and corrosive fluid chemistry. COMPASS will deliver improved and innovative well design to solve those challenges. Novel foam cement solutions suitable for high-temperature formations will be developed to improve well integrity, and cost-effective laser cladding will be used to improve corrosion protection inside the casing pipes.

Objective

The COMPASS project is inspired by global efforts to improve utilization of geothermal resources by enlarging production fields downwards. Energy output can be enhanced, without the need to expand surface infrastructure, by drilling into deep and hot formations. Calculations indicate that wells drilled into superhot conditions will yield 5-10 times more than a conventional well which can significantly reduce number of wells required.

The main challenges to achieve this are related to the well integrity; due to extreme temperature changes and corrosive fluid chemistry encountered. Two of three wells in the Iceland Deep Drilling Project (IDDP) have already been drilled and had serious problems with casing failures. Numerous examples of casing failures in conventional geothermal wells show that current well concepts, mainly transferred from oil and gas applications, are barely sufficient for geothermal use.

COMPASS will address these challenges by developing improved and innovative well casing technologies:

-To mitigate casing failures, novel foam cement solutions will be developed suitable for high temperature formations. This system would work with available flexible couplings to mitigate high-temperature induced stresses and ensuring well integrity.

- Cost-effective laser-cladding will be used to improve corrosion protection inside the casing pipes.

These technology developments will be enhanced with a robust well design solution addressing challenges, reducing project risk and enabling reduction of LCOE. The new well concept will enable cost-effective geothermal developments in new types of geological settings and new regions.

The COMPASS consortium contains a diverse team of major geothermal research institutes and leading industry players. This combination ensures cross-fertilisation, sharing of knowledge and experience, and seamless transfer of the novel well construction technologies by industry application, including significant citizen e

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) HORIZON-CL5-2021-D3-03

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Coordinator

ON POWER OHF
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 380 625,00
Address
BAEJARHALSI 1
110 REYKJAVIK
Iceland

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Region
Ísland Ísland Höfuðborgarsvæði
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 768 125,00

Participants (7)

Partners (2)

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