With the geothermal campaign "Heat Turnaround with Geothermal Energy", the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK) sets the goal of tapping the great potential of geothermal energy for a climate-friendly heat supply in Germany. The BMWK's key issues paper lists eight measures to achieve this goal, including a data campaign to improve the data situation, especially on near-surface geothermal energy. The LIAG's WärmeGut research project addresses precisely this goal, and so the WärmeGut research proposal with the topic "Flanking the ground-source heat pump rollout for the heat transition through a nationwide, uniform provision of geoinformation on near-surface geothermal energy in Germany" was applied for in the BMWK's 7th Energy Research Programme and recently approved.

Further development of the Germany-wide geothermal portal GeotIS

The LIAG develops and operates the established Geothermal Information System for Germany - GeotIS. The development of GeotIS was started in 2006 and so far includes deep geothermal data. So far, the focus has been on deep geothermal energy, as electricity generation - also from geothermal energy - was targeted in the early phase of the Renewable Energy Sources Act. In addition, the input data for GeotIS comes mainly from hydrocarbon exploration, another reason for the lack of near-surface geoinformation in GeotIS.

In its meta-study on the national geothermal strategy, the LIAG points to the potential of near-surface geothermal energy that can be leveraged in the short term in conjunction with the use of ground-coupled heat pumps, while the development time of medium-depth and deep geothermal sites serves medium-term expansion goals for geothermal heat supply.

However, the massive expansion of shallow geothermal energy must be accompanied by a systematic improvement of the data situation. Shallow geothermal energy is the responsibility of the State Geological Services of the Länder, which operate in this field with the highest level of competence but with different levels of resources and data provision.

Initial situation

So far, there is no uniform presentation of the geological-technical potential of the ONG across the federal states. Economically targeted promotion of geothermal heat pumps to achieve the ONG expansion targets is currently difficult because the geological data is either lacking at a uniform nationwide level or can only be used to a limited extent due to too much heterogeneity. The expansion of ONG as a contribution to detachment from fossil fuels in the heating sector cannot yet be specifically controlled and supported from a nationwide perspective. 

Solution and objective: As a supportive measure for the promotion of geothermal heat pumps, data gaps are to be closed through extensive data preparation with the involvement of the SGDs (State Geological Services / State Offices) in order to provide nationwide uniform traffic light maps for ONG in GeotIS. The intersection of geothermal potential with heat demand density from existingGIS-based offerings (e.g. IFEU or DBI)should enable the economic perspective on the various ONG technologies in order to exploit the geothermal potential in Germany along ecologically compatible efficiency increases and economically sound expansion paths. The already established operator query in GeotIS on deep geothermal energy (TG) is to be suitably supplemented by an annual query on newly installed geothermal heat pumps. In order to ensure a connection to the existing GeotIS data sets, geoinformation on medium-deep geothermal energy (MTG) should also be included, reviewed and, if necessary, reassessed. In addition to upgrading GeotIS for ONG, concepts and recommendations are to be developed to advance and strengthen the expansion of ONG.

Processing of complex geoscientific data with the long-standing expertise of the LIAG.

Methods
In addition to the processing of data from the geoscientific field, programming work in the IT field is primarily necessary in order to implement new functionalities in the user interface of GeotIS and to visualise the potential maps in line with existing, regionally implemented concepts. If necessary, new data can be collected to fill data gaps; the (borehole) geophysical equipment of the LIAG is available for this purpose. Results are to be made available as quickly as possible. For this purpose, results are to be published for the first time in GeotIS immediately after verification in half-yearly slices according to a rolling procedure.

Highlights

• Extension of the established geothermal portal GeotIS to include information on the entire geothermal sector
• Consultation process with all state geological services of the federal states
• Development of models and provision of model results on the impact of near-surface geothermal installations
• Conceptualisation, creation, verification and provision of traffic light maps for the designation of potential areas.
• Improvement of the 3-D temperature model in GeotIS
• Collection, evaluation and monitoring of statistical data on near-surface geothermal plants
• Development of regional economic strategies for near-surface geothermal innovation regions
• Improvement of the data processing situation and creation of necessary database components at the State Geological Services
• Intersection of heat source and heat sink: Implementation of geo-referenced information on heat demand densities in GeotIS
• Early provision of project results according to a rolling procedure to accelerate economic, social and scientific usability
• PhD positions in industrial seismology and temperature anomalies