Assessing the impact of hierarchical geological heterogeneities on geothermal energy production

Energy derived from geothermal systems is essential to the energy transition. Inherent geological and a lack of data requires the use of computer-driven modelling and simulation to aid decision-making. To make sound decisions, many reservoir models that encapsulate different geological scenarios should be analysed such that the impact of geological uncertainty on geothermal energy production can be evaluated adequately. Current geomodelling workflows, however, are too time consuming to build and explore different contrasting geological scenarios at various scales.

In this study we used the open-source Rapid Reservoir Modelling (RRM) software to design different geological scenarios of a shallow marine succession hosting a potential geothermal reservoir and analyse how multi-scale geological features impact reservoir flow. RRM allows users to quickly create and explore realistic 3D geological models from intuitive 2D sketches. Models arecreated in minutes while flow diagnostics allow us to analyse fluid-flow behavior in real-time. Models are then imported into commercial reservoir simulation packages to investigate the effect of heterogeneity and scale on geothermal energy production. We show how we can quickly evaluate how different scales of heterogeneity impact geothermal production estimates and which heterogeneities must be represented in reservoir models to obtain reliable results about the possible reservoir behaviours.