Overview of Geothermal Energy Projects in Europe and the GEISER Project on Induced Seismicity

Abstract

This article provides an overview on the geothermal energy research in Europe and one of the EU funded projects 'GEISER (Geothermal Engineering Integrating Mitigation of Induced Seismicity in Reservoirs)' in which the authors were involved. More details are given for description of GEISER, in particular, about aims and discussions and how the project was managed. Emphasis is given to one of the work packages 'Induced Seismicity and Large Magnitude Events (LME)' and results of this work package are summarized. This article intends to summarize the lessons learned in the GEISER project and give recommendations to future geothermal projects by creating Enhanced Geothermal Systems hydraulic stimulation where induced seismicity issues are expected to be a major issue and obstacle.

Faults strengthening and seismicity induced by geothermal exploitation on a spreading volcano, Mt. Amiata, Italia

“…Seismic events induced by geothermal operations have been studied for more than 30 European cases (Evans et al, 2012;Yoon et al, 2013), generally confirming the view that injection in sedimentary rocks tends to be less seismogenic than in crystalline rocks. Thousands of small events, not felt by people, are generated annually, but few earthquakes have magnitudes up to the 4-5 M L range.…”