Geothermal pilot project in Finland exploring new approach to drilling technology
Winter view, Espoo, Finland (source: flickr/ Antti T. Nissinen, creative commons)
Alexander Richter
10 Mar 2017
The geothermal pilot project at Otaniemi in Finland is exploring different technology options to continue the drilling for the project.
In a release late last month the St1 geothermal pilot project at Otaniemi in Finland announced wanting to solve some technical issues before continuing to drill for the project. We previously reported on the project.
St1 began drilling of geothermal pilot heat plant at Otaniemi in April last year. In the first phase the drilling was done using air hammer, which reached the depth of 4,5 kilometres. After that a shift was made to a water hammer technology. Continuing the project to a greater depth with the tested water hammer proved financially unreasonable and the company is looking for a new drilling solution.
Now, the project will focus on the development and testing of water hammer technology. This phase is estimated to last for approximately six months, after which the aim is to start the drilling again at the site. In this case, the project could be completed in the first half of 2018.
”Similar kind of project hasn’t been made in the hard soil like Finnish granite and to the targeted depth, so setbacks have been expected. The most important goal of the pilot project is to test and develop technically and financially profitable solutions for all work phases of the geothermal business concept so that it can be commerzialised after the pilot”, says Jari Suominen, the CEO of St1 Deep Heat.
Source: Company release
