GFZ - Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences /Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum
GFZ was founded in 1992 as the national research institution for geosciences in Germany and is ab initio member of the Helmholtz Association of National Research Centres. With currently 1000 staff GFZ combines all solid earth science fields including geodesy, geology, geophysics, mineralogy, palaeontology and geochemistry, in a multidisciplinary scientific and technical environment.
The GFZ is built up by five departments: geodesy and remote sensing, physics of the Earth, geodynamics and geomaterials, chemistry of the Earth, and Earth surface processes. The departments are accompanied by Geo-Engineering Centres, e.g., for tsunami early warning, for geothermal energy research, and underground storage of CO2.
The Centre for CO
2 Storage is in charge of management and research at the CO
2 storage site of Ketzin. There, the storage of a maximum 100,000 t of CO
2 is planned (31,000 tonnes of CO
2 already injected by February 2010) and several European and German projects are already integrated, among them CO
2SINK and CO
2ReMoVe. Their synergy is leading to an exhaustive characterization of the site and has allowed the development and deployment of a rich and innovative monitoring network to observe the plume migration and reservoir behaviour. The Centre for CO
2 Storage is also active at the international level, as member of the International Performance assessment Centre for CO
2-Storage (IPAC) and within the Helmholtz-Alberta Initiative (HAI) with the University of Alberta.
Relevant project experience (most recent only):
CO2SINK - CO
2 Storage by
Injection into a
Natural Saline Aquifer at
Ketzin
CO2ReMoVe - CO
2 Geological Storage:
Research into
Monitoring and
Verification Technology
CO2MAN - CO
2 Reservoir
management
GRASP -
Greenhouse-gas
removal
apprenticeship and
student
programme
Within CO
2CARE, GFZ will:
- Coordinate the project: the Centre is long experienced, with the coordination of both national and European projects.
- Contribute to and coordinate the numerous research activities of the CO2CARE partners at Ketzin, thus optimizing their integration with other projects. Activities in which GFZ is actively involved include e.g. the numerical simulation of the site behaviour and the development of a complete THMC model, history match, deployment of new semi-permanent seismic sources, “smart abandonment” of a the Ketzin well, well and reservoir and shallow zone monitoring at Ketzin. For all these activities GFZoffers extensive experience and competencies.