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Geneva eyeing large-scale geothermal project

Alexander Richter 18 Dec 2008

The Swiss city of Geneva is planning a large-scale geothermal project that could provide heat and energy for thousands of homes.

The Swiss city of Geneva is planning a large-scale geothermal project that could provide heat and energy for thousands of homes.

The project is estimated at SFr 200 million (US$ 173 million) and is initiated by the local power company Services Industriels de Geneve (SIG) with support from the Federal Energy Office and cantonal energy department. If all goes to plan, then over ten thousand new homes in the southeast of Geneva could be heated and receive electricity from geothermal. Initial exploratory drillings already exists from an earlier campaign in the 1990s.

The work on the new project is expected to begin in January 2009 and utilize the existing borehole for a large heat pump. A second borehold could be drilled as early as in 2010 aiming at depths of 3,500-4,000 metres, followed by a third for circulation/ re-injection. More ambitious are then the plans for 2020 when drilling for a borehole 5,000-6,000 metres are to commence. Temperatures are expected to be at 160-200 centigrades, which could be utilized in a binary system for electricity generation.

The seismic risks, looking at the earthquakes that stopped the Basel deep fracture project, are not faced by the Geneva projec t, as the project is looking at water resources in soft permeable sandstone layers. A feasibility study for the project is expected to be presented in the spring of 2009. Given the decision finding process in Switzerland, the residents will then have the last workd on a SFr 120 million credit.

So besides St. Gallen, and now Geneva, there is also another project being looked at in Zurich, but it will only look into providing district heating/ cooling.

Source: Swissinfo.ch