Soft stimulation treatment of geothermal well RV-43 to meet the growing heat demand of Reykjavik

Abstract

Reykjavik is almost entirely heated by geothermal energy. Yet, recent growth of the city significantly increased the heat demand. Past experiences in Iceland's capital region showed that hydraulic stimulation of existing geothermal wells is suited to improve hydraulic performance and energy supply. However, fluid injection may also trigger felt or even damaging earthquakes, which are of concern in populated areas and pose a significant risk to stimulation operations. Consequently, soft stimulation concepts have been developed to increase geothermal well performance while minimizing environmental effects such as induced seismicity. In a demonstration project of hydraulic soft stimulation in October 2019, more than 20.000 m³ of water were injected into well RV-43 in Reykjavik in multiple stages and with different injection schemes. The hydraulic performance of the well was improved without inducing felt seismicity. An a priori seismic risk assessment was conducted and for the first time the risk was continuously updated by an adaptive traffic light system supported by a sophisticated realtime microseismic monitoring. Our results confirm that it is possible to improve the performance of geothermal wells in Reykjavik and worldwide with acceptable technical, economic, and environmental risks. Here we provide an overview of the entire stimulation project including site description, stimulation design, zonal isolation, logging, seismic risk assessment and mitigation measures, realtime seismic, hydraulic and chemical monitoring, and stimulation results and challenges.