Monday, February 10, 2020

Science & Technology: Geothermal Drilling in Search of Supercritical Fluids did not Cause Uncontrolled Seismic Activity - Researchers

Geothermal energy: Drilling a 3,000-meter deep well (Science Daily)

Geothermal Sunset, by Fabio Sartori. GRC Photo Contest 2019.
Nuova Monterotondo geothermal power plant, Italy.
Researchers at the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, working in collaboration with the University of Florence and the National Research Council (CNR) in Italy, have studied the seismic activity linked to a geothermal drilling in search of supercritical fluids. 

They discovered that the drilling did not cause uncontrolled seismic activity. 

This drilling under such critical conditions suggests that the technology is on the verge of mastering geothermal energy, paving the way for new sources of non-polluting heat and electricity.


Riccardo Minetto, Domenico Montanari, Thomas Planès, Marco Bonini, Chiara Del Ventisette, Verónica Antunes, Matteo Lupi. Tectonic and Anthropogenic Microseismic Activity While Drilling Toward Supercritical Conditions in the Larderello‐Travale Geothermal Field, Italy. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 2020; 125 (2) DOI: 10.1029/2019JB018618