GEISER

The GEISER (Geothermal Engineering Integrating Mitigation of Induced Seismicity in Reservoirs) project started at the beginning of the year 2010 after successful contract negotiations with the European Commission. EC funding of € 5.3 Mio is granted for 3.5 years. The project will address several of the major challenges the development of geothermal energy is facing, including the mitigation of induced seismicity to an acceptable level.

The specific goals of GEISER are:

  • to understand why seismicity is induced in some cases but not in others
  • to assess the probability of seismic hazards depending on geological setting and geographical location
  • to propose licensing and monitoring guidelines for local authorities, including a definition acceptable ground motion levels
  • to investigate strategies for ‘soft stimulation’ that sufficiently improve the geothermal reservoir’s hydraulic properties without producing earthquakes that could be felt or cause damage

The GEISER project is coordinated by GFZ Potsdam and involves 12 additional partners: BRGM, ISOR, TNO, ETHZ, STATOIL, GEOWATT, NORSAR, ARMINES, EOST, KNMI, AMRA, INGV.

The project is broken down into 7 work packages (WP), each lead by one of the partners.

GEISER has a management committee whose responsibility is to support the coordinator in the overall management. The five work package leaders are members of the management committee, presided over by BRGM. In addition, the management committee is responsible for the technical and scientific coordination between workpackages.

Website: http://www.geiser-fp7.eu