Sustain - Scalable and efficient monitoring of geothermal and underground energy storage

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Sustain is developing a "Monitoring Optimiser," a novel technology designed to provide efficient reservoir characterisation for geothermal energy, heat storage and hydrogen storage industries. Such projects are often not economically viable due to the costs of reservoir characterisation. By integrating advanced data processing algorithms with state-of-the-art sensors, our technology offers an autonomous tool that helps operators save millions by evaluating the most efficient characterisation strategy. Project idea descriptionEnergy companies that operate underground facilities have a need to evaluate and choose the most efficient characterisation strategy to be economically viable. This issue is particularly relevant to sustainable industries such as the geothermal energy, heat, hydrogen, and carbon storage industries. Operators in these industries currently spend 10’s of millions to characterize their reservoirs to inform investment decisions worth 100’s of millions1,2. The characterisation is crucial for reducing project risk and increasing future revenues but has a low margin of error before it impinges on the economic viability of the project. For example, the upfront costs for characterizing geothermal reservoirs can exceed 50% of the total project cost3 and can still be insufficient to guarantee the project success if done inefficiently. A significant portion of the characterisation budget is spent on expensive drilling and seismic imaging practices, costing several million per well or imaging campaign; the 15M seismic geothermal prospection spent by Services industrial de Geneve (SIG) and the canton of Geneva is a typical example4. The deployment of such techniques can be significantly optimised by focusing the areal extent and resolution of the imaging campaign or targeting high-value-added areas to drill into. Furthermore, a multitude of alternative monitoring tools can complement the reservoir characterisation, each with their own advantages and disadvantage. Despite the choices available for characterisation, operators struggle to assess the value-added of each technique. Therefore, energy companies are uncapable of identify the optimal characterisation strategy needed to inform their investment decisions and operations at minimal cost. Sustain provides a unique and autonomous technology for “monitoring evaluation and optimisation” which evaluates and informs operators on the most efficient characterisation strategy for their reservoir. The tool is composed primarily of advanced data processing and reservoir simulation software that interfaces with a range of state-of-the-art sensors commonly deployed when characterising geothermal and energy storage reservoirs. Sustain offers such a service through a yearly subscription-based model that leases the software to the operator, along with the monitoring hardware (through technology partners). A differential pricing based on the extent of the characterisation and data-processing needed would price the license between 30’000-200’000 CHF per year, but potentially save several millions of CHF for the operator; 4 Million CHF alone can be saved by optimising a single seismic imaging campaign. Alternatively, the software license can be sold to benefit subsurface engineering consulting companies by accelerating the workflow of reservoir engineers who would use the product to provide novel solutions to their geothermal & energy storage clients. Overall, the global market for geothermal energy alone is evaluated at $70 billion5, while the hydrogen & carbon storage market are expected to reach $40 billion6 by 2030, presenting a large and growing opportunity for novel cost-cutting and productivity enhancing solutions. Our technology optimizes geothermal energy projects by lowering the high costs of reservoir characterization and monitoring. This makes geothermal energy more economically viable and encourages its adoption as a clean, renewable energy source. By reducing the reliance on fossil fuels, we contribute to substantial energy savings and further decrease CO2 emissions, in line with the swiss energy strategy7. The same can be said for Sustain’s impact in the heat, hydrogen and carbon storage industries, whereby increasing the economic viability of the storage projects will accelerate the development of the industry and facilitate the decrease of CO2 emissions. Current status and previous activitiesThe typical approach of the geothermal and energy storage industries to reservoir characterisation has been to direcly apply expensive workflows inhereted from oil and gas. However, the smaller budgets of industries in the sustainability sector have culminated in many project failures due to the large uncertainties present at the time of the investement decision. Our learnings have been that a leaner, multi-stage approach to characterisation can and must be leveraged in order to efficiently reduce project uncertainties. Ironically, the ranking and prioritising of characterisation strategies is performed successfully within leading companies in the oil & gas sector. However, such methodologies have not yet been modified and adapted to the specific needs and priorities of the geothermal and energy storage industries and have not been updated with more-advanced algorithms developed in academia. With expertise from leading academic and industry players, Sustain is strongly positioned to address this market gap.Sustain is currently delivering an early prototype of the software to a first customer INPEX; a large upstream oil and gas company in Japan investigating energy storage. The prototype successfully processes active seismic data, already distinguishing itself as state-of-the-art (SOA) in the field, and further development is underway to provide a unique minimum viable product offering optimisation of various seismic methodologies. Sustain is hiring an exceptional PhD graduate in order to aid with the development of the software. Furthermore, Sustain is engaged in negotiations for early trial licenses from engineering consulting companies. In particular negotiations are carried out with Ad Terra Consulting, Seismix, CarbonCause, and Sproule, based in Switzerland, Italy, Spain and the US, respectively. Sustain has been awarded the ETH deeptech pioneer fellowship, as well as the innosuisse initial coaching grant and the EU Horizon geothermal grant GeoHEAT.Resources neededWe are currently facing high demands in the technical, commercial, and legal development of our start-up. To address these challenges, we aim to establish an accredited ETH spin-off, develop a minimum viable product, and secure initial sales and pilot projects with interested clients by 2025. Support from the booster would be crucial at this stage of our growth. The funding would allow us to expand our development team by hiring an exceptional PhD graduate full-time to complete the minimum viable product. Furthermore, legal advice from the Energy Lab would aid in our incorporation as an ETH spin-off. Additionally, the Energy Lab's connections within the Swiss geothermal energy and heat storage network would be invaluable for increasing our client base and enhancing our visibility.Referenceshttps://etip-geothermal.eu/front/wp-content/uploads/ETIP_DG-D4.5-Financing-Deep-Geothermal-demonstration-projects-v04.pdfhttps://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/assets.eti.co.uk/legacyUploads/2016/04/D16-10113ETIS-WP6-Report-Publishable-Summary.pdfhttps://etip-geothermal.eu/front/wp-content/uploads/ETIP_DG-D4.5-Financing-Deep-Geothermal-demonstration-projects-v04.pdfhttps://ww2.sig-ge.ch/actualites/geothermie-lancement-dune-large-campagne-de-prospection-inedite-du-sous-sol-genevoishttps://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/geothermal-energy-market-106341https://www.precedenceresearch.com/carbon-capture-and-storage-market#:~:text=What%20is%20the%20carbon%20capture,USD%2043.76%20billion%20by%202033https://www.bfe.admin.ch/bfe/en/home/policy/energy-perspectives-2050-plus.html/

Project Idea Metadata

Project Idea Name: Sustain - Scalable and efficient monitoring of geothermal and underground energy storage
Date: 8/6/2024 10:24:16 AM
Administrators:
- Edoardo Pezzulli

Project Idea Description

Project idea description

Energy companies that operate underground facilities have a need to evaluate and choose the most efficient characterisation strategy to be economically viable. This issue is particularly relevant to sustainable industries such as the geothermal energy, heat, hydrogen, and carbon storage industries. Operators in these industries currently spend 10’s of millions to characterize their reservoirs to inform investment decisions worth 100’s of millions^1,2. The characterisation is crucial for reducing project risk and increasing future revenues but has a low margin of error before it impinges on the economic viability of the project. For example, the upfront costs for characterizing geothermal reservoirs can exceed 50% of the total project cost³ and can still be insufficient to guarantee the project success if done inefficiently. A significant portion of the characterisation budget is spent on expensive drilling and seismic imaging practices, costing several million per well or imaging campaign; the 15M seismic geothermal prospection spent by Services industrial de Geneve (SIG) and the canton of Geneva is a typical example⁴. The deployment of such techniques can be significantly optimised by focusing the areal extent and resolution of the imaging campaign or targeting high-value-added areas to drill into. Furthermore, a multitude of alternative monitoring tools can complement the reservoir characterisation, each with their own advantages and disadvantage. Despite the choices available for characterisation, operators struggle to assess the value-added of each technique. Therefore, energy companies are uncapable of identify the optimal characterisation strategy needed to inform their investment decisions and operations at minimal cost.

Sustain provides a unique and autonomous technology for “monitoring evaluation and optimisation” which evaluates and informs operators on the most efficient characterisation strategy for their reservoir. The tool is composed primarily of advanced data processing and reservoir simulation software that interfaces with a range of state-of-the-art sensors commonly deployed when characterising geothermal and energy storage reservoirs. Sustain offers such a service through a yearly subscription-based model that leases the software to the operator, along with the monitoring hardware (through technology partners). A differential pricing based on the extent of the characterisation and data-processing needed would price the license between 30’000-200’000 CHF per year, but potentially save several millions of CHF for the operator; 4 Million CHF alone can be saved by optimising a single seismic imaging campaign. Alternatively, the software license can be sold to benefit subsurface engineering consulting companies by accelerating the workflow of reservoir engineers who would use the product to provide novel solutions to their geothermal & energy storage clients. Overall, the global market for geothermal energy alone is evaluated at $70 billion⁵, while the hydrogen & carbon storage market are expected to reach $40 billion⁶ by 2030, presenting a large and growing opportunity for novel cost-cutting and productivity enhancing solutions.

Our technology optimizes geothermal energy projects by lowering the high costs of reservoir characterization and monitoring. This makes geothermal energy more economically viable and encourages its adoption as a clean, renewable energy source. By reducing the reliance on fossil fuels, we contribute to substantial energy savings and further decrease CO2 emissions, in line with the swiss energy strategy⁷. The same can be said for Sustain’s impact in the heat, hydrogen and carbon storage industries, whereby increasing the economic viability of the storage projects will accelerate the development of the industry and facilitate the decrease of CO2 emissions.

Current status and previous activities

The typical approach of the geothermal and energy storage industries to reservoir characterisation has been to direcly apply expensive workflows inhereted from oil and gas. However, the smaller budgets of industries in the sustainability sector have culminated in many project failures due to the large uncertainties present at the time of the investement decision. Our learnings have been that a leaner, multi-stage approach to characterisation can and must be leveraged in order to efficiently reduce project uncertainties. Ironically, the ranking and prioritising of characterisation strategies is performed successfully within leading companies in the oil & gas sector. However, such methodologies have not yet been modified and adapted to the specific needs and priorities of the geothermal and energy storage industries and have not been updated with more-advanced algorithms developed in academia. With expertise from leading academic and industry players, Sustain is strongly positioned to address this market gap.

Sustain is currently delivering an early prototype of the software to a first customer INPEX; a large upstream oil and gas company in Japan investigating energy storage. The prototype successfully processes active seismic data, already distinguishing itself as state-of-the-art (SOA) in the field, and further development is underway to provide a unique minimum viable product offering optimisation of various seismic methodologies. Sustain is hiring an exceptional PhD graduate in order to aid with the development of the software. Furthermore, Sustain is engaged in negotiations for early trial licenses from engineering consulting companies. In particular negotiations are carried out with Ad Terra Consulting, Seismix, CarbonCause, and Sproule, based in Switzerland, Italy, Spain and the US, respectively. Sustain has been awarded the ETH deeptech pioneer fellowship, as well as the innosuisse initial coaching grant and the EU Horizon geothermal grant GeoHEAT.

Resources needed

We are currently facing high demands in the technical, commercial, and legal development of our start-up. To address these challenges, we aim to establish an accredited ETH spin-off, develop a minimum viable product, and secure initial sales and pilot projects with interested clients by 2025. Support from the booster would be crucial at this stage of our growth. The funding would allow us to expand our development team by hiring an exceptional PhD graduate full-time to complete the minimum viable product. Furthermore, legal advice from the Energy Lab would aid in our incorporation as an ETH spin-off. Additionally, the Energy Lab's connections within the Swiss geothermal energy and heat storage network would be invaluable for increasing our client base and enhancing our visibility.

References