Project descripton

The DEEPLIGHT project has been awarded via and is as part of the 2021 Geothermica and JPP Smart Energy Systems Joint Call. The project runs for three years: from November 2022 until October 2025. The main ambition of this project is to accelerate the growth of global geothermal production by a game changing drilling and well construction technology.

Objectives

A novel, cost-efficient well needs to overcome present major barriers of current drilling and well construction technology. Therefore, the DEEPLIGHT project aims to achieve the following objectives:

1. Increase the efficiency and reduce the costs of geothermal drilling operations by developing a contactless drilling technolgoy based on Electrical Pulsed Power (EPP) technology.
2. Improve well safety, efficiency and the geothermal business case by design a casing placement while drilling method compatible for EPP loads.
3. Raise the reliability and expected life of the well by investigating thermal flexible, smart cement tailored to the requirements of the integrated EPP-casing while drilling approach.
4. Deliver an outlook to a novel, cost-efficient and reliable drilling approach by developing a DEEPLIGHT EPP-casing while drilling (EPP-CwD) system design.

Outcomes

Achieving these objectives is expected to come with the following outcomes for the project:

• Increase confidence in geothermal operations by reduced risks of deep geothermal projects
• Reduce geothermal well construction costs
• Increase heat production capacity per well location and enhance energy production from geothermal formations
• Realize a smaller CO₂ footprint, waste reduction and energy savings.