Action Plan Deep Geothermal Energy: How Brandenburg will enhance the availability and quality of geological data for deep geothermal exploration

Geothermal energy is a crucial part for the energy transition towards renewables and highly in demand by municipal energy providers to supply energy via their district heating networks. The North German Basin in Brandenburg was explored heavily during the 1960-1980s for hydrocarbons. Despite the amount of vintage hydrocarbon exploration data such as seismic surveys or borehole logs, most data can only be accessed at the GeoArchiv at the Landesamt für Bergbau, Geologie und Rohstoffe (Geological Survey Brandenburg). The majority of the vintage data is not yet digitized.

The Geological Survey and the Ministry for Economic Affairs, Labour, Energy and Climate Action agreed on an Action Plan (Aktionsplan Tiefengeothermie) to kick start geothermal exploration in the federal state of Brandenburg. Until 2028 Brandenburg invests heavily in

(I) its IT infrastructure to convey digitized data to stakeholders and consultants but also in providing direct downloads for open data according to the Geology Data Act (Geologiedatengesetz),

(II) digitizing vintages exploration data as well as homogenize and enhance selected data by reprocessing or vectorization,

(III) identifying and closing data gaps by state funded exploration applying geophysical exploration methods and

(IV) providing new open data by a state funding drilling campaign including petrophysical, mechanical and chemical data on selected reservoir horizons within the North German Basin.

The Action Plan will be supported by ongoing public outreach to inform stakeholders or investors within Brandenburg as well as the general public in the areas targeted for exploration.