Monitoring of Hydrogeothermal Plants in Germany – an Overview

Abstract

New plants are put in operation in Germany every year based on a series of national programmes supporting geothermal energy use. The three most important geothermal regions – Molasse Basin, Upper Rhine Graben, North German Basin – differ essentially by the hydraulic and geochemical behaviour of the exploited aquifers.
The high production flow rates and temperatures required especially for the generation of electricity and aquifer energy storage systems are a challenge to the operators. The operation of geothermal plants in the above regions are accompanied by monitoring programmes focusing on the long-term behaviour of the geothermal reservoir – geothermal plant system.
Topical results of investigations are presented for individual exemplary geothermal plants.