Wed, 28 September, 2022
Developments from the Geo-Drill Project have been published in the European Commission’s ‘Result Pack on Geothermal Energy.’
The article, ‘Holistic Technology Cuts the Cost of Geothermal Drilling,’ details how new optimised equipment and technologies are set to cut the cost of geothermal drilling.
Geo-Drill has seen the development of a down-the-hole (DTH) hammer that operates with an innovative valve system that delivers improved durability and longer-lasting performance. In addition, the development of robust, low-cost 3D-printed sensors that provide real-time data on drilling operations and new graphene coatings have added to the overall improvements and lifetime of drill components.
The article also explains how the technologies that were developed throughout the course of the project were subjected to full-scale laboratory testing under realistic reservoir conditions at the IEG Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Infrastructure and Geothermal Energy in Bochum, Germany.
The Geo-Drill developments are just one of a series of geothermal-related developments that are covered in the full ‘Supporting the Development of Europe’s Geothermal Energy Sector’ Results Pack, which was created based on a request from the European agency, CINEA.
The Geo-Drill article was published on CORDIS (the European Commission's primary service for EU-funded research results) as part of the European Commission’s strategy on the effective dissemination and exploitation of research results.
You can see the Geo-Drill article here.
The GeoDrill project received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, Grant agreement no. 815319.