The Rhenoherzynian basin — a hydrothermal reservoir for North Rhine-Westphalia and North-West Europe?

Climate-neutral heat generation can be achieved through the use of deep hydrothermal geotherm. The ‘Roll-out of Deep Geothermal Energy in North-West Europe’ (DGE-Rollout) transnational project is exploring one of the most promising deep geothermal reservoirs in North-West Europe (NWE), the Rhenoherzynian basin. A key objective of the project is the cross-border characterisation of the undercarbon coal lime group (and in the aftermath of the Devonian mass limes) in Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands, in order to facilitate the location of future geothermal power plants and to support CO2-neutral heat use in NWE. The collection and evaluation of the common data repository and the transnational collection of new data from drillings and seismic campaigns are intended to characterise the depth, strength, structure and fiction of this hydrothermal reservoir and to identify the deep geothermal potentials of carbonate creels in the Rhenoherzynic basin, which were previously unknown.