GeoInformation in Geothermal Development

Abstract

Geographic and location dependant data are very important, yet sometimes overlooked, at all stages of the development of geothermal fields. This data are at all scales, from global maps showing the distribution of geothermal activity in the world, to the very local scale of an individual borehole. The information is in itself valuable, but it can provide when combined more valuable information about the individual geothermal field.

Using mostly out-of-the-box software developed in geographic information science or in the oil & gas industry and adapting them to our purpose, we have powerful applications for analysis, as well as sharing information with colleagues and clients.

The purpose of this study is to identify and define categories (most of the major, and some of the minor) of geoinformation used in the geothermal industry as well as to discuss the importance of the spatial component of geothermal data and how we can combine data together spatially. As well as identifying and defining the categories of information, examples of geographic data at the regional scale will be shown, followed by a case study from a geothermal field under development where categories of geographic data discussed are combined to create a true three dimensional model of the geothermal system.