Project description
Light geothermal drilling rig for remote areas
More than 70 % of the construction costs of geothermal power plants are related to drilling. Minor geothermal plants face even higher costs. What’s more, drilling in remote areas has higher construction and transport costs and generates pollution using diesel generators. In this context, the EU-funded GeoTherm SWS project will develop a compact, mobile and light drilling rig with an innovative interchangeable drilling mechanism, able to conduct 3 drilling methods (core/diamond, rotation, and Down-the-hole). The innovation reduces significantly operating costs and carbon emissions in small-scale deep geothermal energy projects with the final product resulting up to 4 times lighter. GeoTherm SWS aims to encourage small geothermal projects in isolated areas.
Objective
GeoTherm SWS is an innovative drilling rig for geothermal applications developed to convert deep geothermal power (>1500 m) to an affordable energy source for rural and remote areas, by offering a truly mobile drilling system with drastic costs optimizations.
Developing deep geothermal power plants requires the use of expensive and difficult to transport and operate heavy drilling machinery fit for oil and gas market purposes. As a result, up to 70% of the construction costs of geothermal plants are related to drilling. These costs are, in proportion, higher for small geothermal plants. As such, the potential of small-scale geothermal power is hindered where it is needed the most, in remote areas (e.g. rural region, islands) where currently highly polluting diesel generators are being used.
Qmatec is the Norwegian market leader in the supply of mobile drilling rigs. Having identified these needs we developed GeoTherm SWS; a compact, mobile and easy to transport drilling rig with a pioneering interchangeable drilling mechanism, able to conduct 3 drilling methods; core/diamond, rotation and Down-the-hole) allowing to reduce operating cost at a factor 3. Our uniquely light final product (2,100tn – 4 times lighter than existing solutions) has an up to 4 times lower final price. Thus, we achieve the reduction of drilling costs by 70% in small scale deep geothermal energy projects. Moreover, GeoTherm SWS makes possible the development of small geothermal projects even in isolated rural areas, reducing 90 % the carbon emissions otherwise caused by diesel generators.
Our innovation has already attracted the interest of global leaders in the drilling industry as North Tech Energy and Equinor. Our vision is to become an innovation leader in the geothermal drilling market and we have estimated that we will need an additional investment of €2 million to achieve that and bring our product to the market.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering control systems
- engineering and technology environmental engineering energy and fuels renewable energy geothermal energy
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.2.3. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.3. - PRIORITY 'Societal challenges
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H2020-EU.2.1. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020
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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.
3890 VINJE
Norway
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
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.