GeoModel project presented at the 50^th Stanford Geothermal Workshop, February 10-12, 2025

The 50^th Stanford Geothermal Workshop conference was held at the Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, USA, on February 10-12, 2025. This is a prestigious science-oriented conference, held annually since 1975, whose main objective is to promote innovative research in the field of geothermal energy, especially in the areas of reservoir engineering, geophysics, and numerical modeling.

This year’s conference was record-breaking. Over 400 participants from 28 countries and 225 accepted papers (Stanford Geothermal Program) forced the organizers to reject over 100 submitted abstracts. All places were sold out before the workshops even started, which is why the organizers decided to broadcast online from 4 parallel thematic sessions.

The GeoModel project was presented during the first day of the conference in the Reservoir Engineering session, during which MSc. Sæunn Halldórsdóttir and Dr. Eng. Maciej Miecznik gave the following lectures:

• Sæunn Halldórsdóttir – Simulation of Pressure Response in Geothermal Reservoirs by an Updated Lumped Parameter Method – Hjalteyri Case Study;
• Maciej Miecznik – Elimination of the Thermal Lift Effect from Pumping Observations in Deep Geothermal Wells.

The first presentation was about the new computational capabilities offered by Lumpfit++, which is used to predict changes in the water table level in individual production wells in low-temperature geothermal systems. The capabilities of the tool were presented on the example of the Hjalteyri geothermal field, located along Eyjafjörður in northern Iceland. The second presentation concerned the Thermalift tool, which allows to estimate the impact of the thermal lift effect on the observed level of the dynamic water table (or wellhead pressure) and to make its correction before further use. It should be underlined here that the correction of raw wellhead data is necessary for the correct interpretation of well tests or calibration of numerical models, and this is what the Thermalift tool is designed for.

More information about the theoretical foundations of both tools can be found on the GeoModel project website in the “Knowledge” tab and in articles available in the database of geothermal conference publications.

Authors of photos: Maciej Miecznik (MEERI PAS), Leszek Pająk (AGH).