Swiss Partners
University of Geneva
www.unige.ch/sciences/terre/en/
earth-sciences-department
Matteo Lupi
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Documentation
Swiss Contribution
The department of Earth Sciences at the University of Geneva is dedicated to the advancement of fundamental research as well as to its application to societal problems, such as the management of natural resources, the identification of risks posed by natural hazards, and the consequences of human activities on the environment. The group of Crustal Deformation and Fluid Flow investigates crustal processes combining geophysical and numerical methods with geological observations.
Description
The Domo San Pedro Geothermal field, Mexico, is a high-enthalpy geothermal system with an installed capacity of 35 MW. Grupo Dragon, the operator exploiting the geothermal field drilled already nine wells ranging from about 1500m to 3000m depth. Grupo Dragon is planning to expand its production with the drilling of two additional wells, and to measure the linked seismic activity for a better risk assessment.
The University of Geneva aims to transfer to Grupo Dragon and to the Mexican geothermal community the know-how on how to effectively use affordable passive seismic methods in a geothermal context. DOS PEGAS will deploy 20 seismic stations (provided by UNIGE) to monitor seismic activity during stimulation and further acquisition of passive seismic data.
Results
The project partners implemented and analysed the new passive measurement method and developed and optimised the necessary analysis models. Seven workshops and various presentations and specialist publications were realised for the implementation and future use of the developed method.
Impacts
As part of the project, 51 people were trained. Better knowledge of the subsurface reduces the risk associated with ongoing energy utilisation and future drilling to expand the field. The new passive / non-invasive approach for the measurements is cost-effective, CO2-neutral in operation and the sensors can be reused for future measurements. The additional findings will help to preserve existing jobs and create new ones.