A research and production geothermal project on the TU Delft campus
initial modeling and establishment of a digital twin
D. Voskov (Stanford University, TU Delft - Reservoir Engineering)
H. Abels (TU Delft - Applied Geology)
A. Barnhoorn (TU Delft - Applied Geophysics and Petrophysics)
Y. Chen (TU Delft - Reservoir Engineering)
A. Daniilidis (TU Delft - Reservoir Engineering)
David Bruhn (Fraunhofer IEG, TU Delft - Reservoir Engineering)
G. Drijkoningen (TU Delft - Applied Geophysics and Petrophysics)
S. Geiger (TU Delft - Applied Geology)
S. Laumann (TU Delft - Applied Geophysics and Petrophysics)
G. Song (TU Delft - Applied Geology)
Phil Vardon (TU Delft - Geo-engineering)
L. Vargas Meleza (TU Delft - Lab Geoscience and Engineering)
D. Verschuur (TU Delft - Applied Geophysics and Petrophysics)
A.G. Vondrak (TU Delft - Lab Geoscience and Engineering)
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Abstract
Nearly half of the Netherlands’ natural gas consump tion is allocated to heating, with direct -use geothermal heating being one of the available low-carbon energy solutions. A geothermal well doublet, designed with the two primary aims of research and commercial heat supply, is currently being installed on the campus of Delft University of Technology. The project is a key national research infrastructure and is being incorporated into the European sustainable and distributed infrastructure (EPOS: European Plate Observing System, https://www.epos-eu.org/), such that accessibility and data availability will be as wide as possible. All observations will be included in a digital-twin framework, which will allow us to make better decisions in future geothermal projects. The project includes a comprehens ive research program, involving the installation of a wide range of instruments alongside an extensive logging and coring program and monitoring network. The doublet has been cored, with substantial continuous samples from the heterogeneous reservoir, alongside a large suite of well logs in both the reservoir and overlying geological units. Such investigation is rarely undertaken in geothermal projects. A fiber-optic cable will monitor the producer well all the way down to the reservoir section, at approximately 2300m depth, in the Lower Cretaceous Delft Sandstone that is used as a geothermal reservoir in a series of existing and planned doublets in the West Netherlands Basin. A local seismic monitoring network has been installed in the surrounding area with the aim of monitoring very low-magnitude natural or induced seismicity. A vertical observation well with electromagnetic sensors will be drilled in the near future between the injector and producer to monitor cold-front propagation. This paper presents the initial modeling for the project and steps towards the production of a digital twin. Two modeling examples in the paper will emp hasize current operational challenges relevant to the project.