Fracture-dominated aquifer exploitation

The Chair of Hydrogeology leads the WP2: “The influence of fracture zones on the hydraulic aquifer behavior”. The research tasks for the Chair of Hydrogeology in this project comprises lab experiments to derive rock parameters (permeability, porosity, thermal conductivity and capacity), hydrochemistry analysis and THM-modelling of the aquifer.

The research project Dolomitkluft (i.e. dolomite fracture) addresses the geothermal development, testing and analysis of the first fracture dominated dolomitic aquifer in the deep Malm of the Bavarian Molasse Basin. The test site is located in the district Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen, about 40 km south of Munich and east of the Lake Starnberg. Several research topics are dealt out among the partners of the joint project, Enex, LIAG, GEOS, GTN, and TUM. Enex is the license owner of the test side and coordinator of the joint research project. The scientific lead has the LIAG (Prof. Dr. I. Moeck).

Particularly, the project aims the geothermal exploitation of the 5000 m deep Malm formation close to Geretsried in the district Bad Tölz-Wolfrathausen, 40 km south of Munich. License owner is Enex Power Nord GmbH &Co KG. The first drilling operation started in 2013 with the longest geothermal well in Europe with a 6036 m long well path. However, the productivity was significantly lower than expected and turned out as beyond any economic level. The exploitation concept followed the so-called facies concept, where a particular porous carbonate facies type is expected from 3D seismic interpretation. The dry well GEN-1 was plugged in August 2013 and the negative results from this prominent project provoked a considerable draw-down in the whole geothermal market in Germany. The aim of the project is to test, analyze and exploit a fracture-dominated dolomite aquifer in the Malm-reservoir of the Bavarian Molasse Basin.