Integral modeling and financial impact of the geothermal situation and power plant at Soultz-sous-Forets

The science about deep Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) is still an emerging process and for further spreading economics is the key of the technology. To understand the financial situation, a program for economic evaluation was developed. This software (Euronaut) is completely modularized and considers all cash flows. Projects like an EGS are wrapped into tree-like structures. Based on the results which were gained at Soultz-sous-Forets, two configurations were designed. The first EGS configuration consists of a simplified two well (doublet) system where the dependencies of all components (mainly the reservoir, wells, pumps and the heat-to-power conversion unit) are physically and economically linked together. The realization of these dependencies and their complex interactions enable a sensitivity analysis of the borehole depth and reservoir depth, respectively. As a result, depth dependent effective costs and revenues of an EGS plant with the geohydrological characteristics of Soultz-sous-Forets are determined. As a future development, the second configuration will adapt the actual situation at Soultz-sous-Forets with the individual features of all four wells (GPK1 - GPK4). Then, this model can be used for all kinds of sensitivity analyses to clarify the impact of certain components or to optimize the operation scheme: e.g. the flow rates. (C) 2009 Academie des sciences. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.