Unlocking the NCG Utilization Potential of Turkish Geothermal Fields: Criteria of Selection NCG Injection Well for GECO Project, Kizildere Geothermal Field

Abstract

Turkey has become one of the most valuable player in European geothermal industry with their relentless efforts in last decade. As the Turkish geothermal industry grows, one topic of interest got great deal of attention from reservoir perspective, which is producing geothermal fluid with high concentration of NCG. The high NCG concentration in geothermal fluid has both advantages and disadvantages. The most important disadvantage is the obvious one, higher emission rates. Although there is not any regulation or penalty mechanism for higher emission rates from geothermal power plants, some of the leading Turkish companies already started to put an effort to solve this issue. With this purpose, Zorlu Energy who operates in Kizildere and Alasehir geothermal field with installed capacity of 305 MWe, has joined the GECO(Gas Emission Control) project, which is EU funded research project that started in 2018 as Turkish site leader. Within GECO project, one of the injection well in Kizildere Geothermal Field will be used for NCG injection in order to evaluate the carbon storage potential of Turkish geothermal reservoirs. In this study, selection criteria of injection well will be discussed from both surface and subsurface perspectives and selection algorithm will be created.