Accelerating Geothermal Energy Projects in the Netherlands Through Acquisition of High Quality Long-Offset 2D Seismic

To achieve the Dutch policy objective to reduce carbon emissions by 49% in 2030, a shift from fossil towards renewable energy resources is required. Within the Netherlands, Geothermal Energy is a proven renewable energy resource, but currently only with a limited number of operating installations, which are located in areas of good subsurface data coverage.

However, subsurface data coverage is poor in roughly half of the country, including major residential and industrial areas with high heat demand. Improving the data coverage in these areas would increase the benefit-risk ratio of geothermal projects, which would greatly support the development of these projects.

To address these data shortcomings, EBN B.V. and TNO-AGE have been tasked by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate to embark on a geothermal exploration campaign, which includes reprocessing of vintage data as well as the acquisition of new, long-offset 2D seismic to improve the subsurface imaging and allow reliable interpretation to a depth of at least 6km. At a later stage deep research wells will be drilled and all subsurface data will be made public.

This paper will describe the geophysical work program, discuss results achieved by September 2019 and outline further plans.