Commercial agreement reached for geothermal pilot in Austria
Molasse Basin and company concessions (Source: ADX Energy release)
Carlo Cariaga
29 Sep 2021
ADX Energy and partners are moving forward with an identified suitable well site for the geothermal pilot plant in Austria.
Australia-listed ADX Energy (ADX) has completed commercial arrangements with Siemens Energy (Siemens) and RED Drilling & Services (RED) to build and operate a proposed geothermal pilot plant in Austria. The pilot plant will be built on an existing well site and will be used as proof of concept for alternative geothermal conversion technologies. Engineering, planning, and procurement for the project is expected to start within 2021.
ADX will be responsible for all subsurface aspects of the project and will be providing overall project management. All works regarding permits and agreements will also be handled by ADX. RED will provide well performance monitoring and well workover services. Meanwhile, Siemens will handle thermodynamic engineering and efficiency analysis of plant parameters.
We had already previously reported on this partnership, and specifically on the work of ADX to look for appropriate well sites. This new update indicates that ADX and RED had already identified a suitable well site with an exceptionally high geothermal gradient and a reservoir with high flow.
The knowledge that can be gained from the pilot project can be used by ADX for their existing geothermal licenses in Upper Austria, particularly in the geothermal setting of the Molasse Basin. ADX has also identified other locations in Central Europe that have geological settings ideal for large-scale geothermal development.
Geothermal power generation can provide an alternative commercialization option for the conventional oil and gas assets in the portfolio of ADX. ADX had also previously announced a green hydrogen storage project the Vienna Basin.
Source: ADX Energy
