Geothermal Potential of Shallow Aquifers: Decision-Aid Tool for Heat-Pump Installation

Abstract

The BRGM aims to give valid data about the geothermal potential to the entrepreneurs, engineers and the individuals to help them in their energetic choice to invest in the execution of a geothermal project involving geothermal heat pumps.
Thus, the BRGM carried out regional inventories based on the available data on the characteristics of the shallow aquifers (depth, thickness, transmisivity, chemical quality). Then, the maps of the geothermal productivity of these aquifers have been drawn using a G.I.S..
So, it is possible for everybody to obtain the characteristics of each of the aquifers placed in every point of the territory covered by the regional G.I.S.: projected flow rate, depth of drilling, temperature.
These maps are currently available for five regions and two departments and the different actors of the geothermal network have access to them through the internet website Geothermie-Perspective.
Different methods have been used for the first three inventories due to the highly scattered data available for the aquifer on site. None of these methods have been a priori chosen as nobody knew which one would have been the best one.
These methods will be presented within the framework of the WGC2010 and the choice of the finally selected method, which depends on the quality and on the quantity of data which we can arrange in tired databases of the BRGM, will be discussed.