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Reservoir characterisation of aquifers for direct heat production: Methodology and screening of the potential reservoirs for the Netherlands

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 March 2014

M.P.D. Pluymaekers ,
L. Kramers ,
J.-D. van Wees ,
A. Kronimus ,
S. Nelskamp ,
T. Boxem  and
D. Bonté
M.P.D. Pluymaekers*
Affiliation:
TNO – Geological Survey of the Netherlands, P.O. Box 80015, 3508 TA Utrecht, the Netherlands
L. Kramers
Affiliation:
TNO – Geological Survey of the Netherlands, P.O. Box 80015, 3508 TA Utrecht, the Netherlands
J.-D. van Wees
Affiliation:
TNO – Geological Survey of the Netherlands, P.O. Box 80015, 3508 TA Utrecht, the Netherlands Utrecht University, Faculty of Geosciences, P.O. Box 80021, 3508 TA Utrecht, the Netherlands
A. Kronimus
Affiliation:
TNO – Geological Survey of the Netherlands, P.O. Box 80015, 3508 TA Utrecht, the Netherlands
S. Nelskamp
Affiliation:
TNO – Geological Survey of the Netherlands, P.O. Box 80015, 3508 TA Utrecht, the Netherlands
T. Boxem
Affiliation:
TNO – Geological Survey of the Netherlands, P.O. Box 80015, 3508 TA Utrecht, the Netherlands
D. Bonté
Affiliation:
TNO – Geological Survey of the Netherlands, P.O. Box 80015, 3508 TA Utrecht, the Netherlands
*
Email: maarten.pluymaekers@tno.nl.
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Abstract

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Geothermal low enthalpy heat in non-magmatic areas can be produced by pumping hot water from aquifers at large depth (>1 km). Key parameters for aquifer performance are temperature, depth, thickness and permeability. Geothermal exploration in the Netherlands can benefit considerably from the wealth of oil and gas data; in many cases hydrocarbon reservoirs form the lateral equivalent of geothermal aquifers. In the past decades subsurface oil and gas data have been used to develop 3D models of the subsurface structure. These models have been used as a starting point for the mapping of geothermal reservoir geometries and its properties. A workflow was developed to map aquifer properties on a regional scale. Transmissivity maps and underlying uncertainty have been obtained for 20 geothermal aquifers. Of particular importance is to take into account corrections for maximum burial depth and the assessment of uncertainties. The mapping of transmissivity and temperature shows favorable aquifer conditions in the northern part of the Netherlands (Rotliegend aquifers), while in the western and southern parts of the Netherlands aquifers of the Triassic and Upper Cretaceous / Jurassic have high prospectivity. Despite the high transmissivity of the Cenozoic aquifers, the limited depth and temperature reduce the prospective geothermal area significantly.

The results show a considerable remaining uncertainty of transmissivity values, due to lack of data and heterogeneous spatial data distribution. In part these uncertainties may be significantly reduced by adding well test results and facies parameters for the map interpolation in future work. For underexplored areas this bears a significant risk, but it can also result in much higher flowrates than originally expected, representing an upside in project performance.

Keywords

Geothermal energyregional transmissivity mappingaquifer.
Type
Research Article
Information
Netherlands Journal of Geosciences , Volume 91 , Issue 4 , December 2012 , pp. 621 - 636
Copyright
Copyright © Stichting Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 2012

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