Geothermal Exploration

On the earth’s volcanic “ring of fire”, New Zealand has long been a world leader in geothermal research. 

At the Institute of Earth Science and Engineering (IESE) of the University of Auckland, New Zealand we are taking our geothermal research expertise one step further with advanced technology that is transforming the way geothermal developers can access new sources of energy around the world.

We provide geothermal consulting services including turn-key geothermal exploration surveys, deployment of borehole seismic networks, and custom build seismometers for geothermal exploration and microseismic monitoring.

In Iceland, Joint Geophysical Imaging (JGI) technology developed at IESE, helped quickly find a top producing well in the Krafla geothermal field. And at Olkaria in Kenya, IESE analysis delivered over 100% productivity gains on previous methods for discovery and drilling - with savings estimated by the United Nations Environmental Program as 'worth $75 million for a 70MW power plant'.

Geothermal Exploration and Microseismic Monitoring Services include:

Consulting & Project Management

• Data integration & processing
• Well targeting
• Seismic tomography
• Geological and geochemical surveying
• Reservoir complexity and modelling
• Electromagnetic TEM and MT interpretation
• Joint geophysical imaging

Microseismic Monitoring Networks

• Permanent and temporary installations
• Borehole and surface
• Radio telemetry and automatic event detection
• Mobile rental network for fast deployments
• Advanced and basic data analysis

Custom Borehole Instrumentation

• Very deep borehole instrumentation
• High pressure and high temperature
• High reliability using passive sensors

Seismology

• Seismic array optimisation
• Borehole seismology
• Fracture distribution analysis

Geothermal Engineering

• Reservoir modelling
• Geothermal well-test analysis software
• Subsidence modelling

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