Hydroisotop - Training

Subjects of the most recent seminars:

• Isotopes and water damage
• Isotopes in ground water            
• Near-surface geothermal energy
• Deep geothermal resources
• Isotopes and dating of mineral, medicinal waters
• Organic contaminants - Natural attenuation

Seminars will be arranged online, at Hydroisotop GmbH in Schweitenkirchen or at a location suggested by a customer / client.

On request workshops can be held in English language as well.

Hydrogeochemical reservoir and fluid characterization - The key to success in the development and operation of hydrothermal geothermal plants

With lectures from research, industry and administration

There are no problems only challenges

On September 7th-8th, 2023, a workshop on deep geothermal energy took place in Bern. The workshop on the current status in the development and operation of hydrothermal wells was initiated by the University of Bern and the company Hydroisotop GmbH and supported by EnergieSchweiz. During the workshop, in addition to the theoretical basics, current challenges in the operation and installation of geothermal plants were addressed.

Participants from different areas, from authorities, researchers from universities, investors and companies from the geo- and environmental sector enabled a lively exchange.

After a short welcome by Christoph Wanner of the University of Bern and Florian Eichinger of Hydroisotop GmbH, the workshop started with a presentation on methods for local and regional hydrogeochemical reservoir characterization by Michael Heidinger of Hydroisotop GmbH.

Deep geothermal energy is an important building block in the energy transition and offers the possibility of year-round, weather-independent as well as space-saving heat and power generation. There are already 24 doublets in Bavaria. The city of Munich wants to cover its district heating needs completely with geothermal energy by 2040. These are big goals. To make them feasible, research and industry are working together on solutions. To this end, the workshop looked at the topic from many perspectives. There were presentations on microbial processes in deep boreholes and on the characterization and prevention of precipitation and corrosion in the plants using concrete case studies. A highlight was the presentation of a new inhibitor NC47.1B, which is biodegradable and non-toxic. Furthermore, legal basics and improvements were discussed, and hydrochemical methods were presented, such as the use of isotopes, for example tritium or krypton-81. The application of tracers for the identification of the thermal potential of the subsurface was another method presented. The guiding question here was how groundwater flow in mountain ranges is related to thermal anomalies. There were many other exciting presentations and posters.

The workshop was concluded with a tour and presentation of the aquifer heat storage project at the Forsthaus energy center in Bern, where the participants could walk along the complete drill core.

Hydroisotop GmbH would like to thank all participants for the active exchange and all speakers for their exciting contributions.