Interested individuals and organisations from the business, community, and policy sectors were invited to participate in this engagement workshop to increase awareness of the reuse of abandoned wells. The workshop took place during the European Geothermal Congress at Kongresshaus Zürich (Seezimmer 1A), Zürich, on Monday, 6 October 2025, from 14:00 to 17:00 (CET), including a coffee break.
TRANSGEO presenters and attendees included Julie Friddell, Hannes Hofmann, Lingkan Finna Christi, Monika Hölzel, Tomislav Kurevija, Marija Macenić, and Katrin Sieron.
During the workshop, the TRANSGEO project team presented the results of the assessment of the geothermal development potential of abandoned wells in the North German, Molasse, Vienna, and Pannonian Basins. Using a newly developed database of more than 10,000 deep hydrocarbon and other wells, the team identified boreholes suitable for geothermal development and introduced the project’s expertise, knowledge, and tools.
Participants from the business, community, and policy sectors had the opportunity to:
- increase their awareness of well reuse and TRANSGEO’s outputs, including the web-based Well Assessment Tool for identifying suitable wells;
- learn about wells with high repurposing potential in their regions of interest for direct heat use and geothermal development; and
- discuss policy improvements that could facilitate the reuse of abandoned wells.
During the discussion session, participants were encouraged to ask questions and exchange ideas on specific well reuse projects.
This engagement workshop supported TRANSGEO’s overall goal of promoting a structural transition to geothermal energy production across Central Europe by providing new tools and knowledge to support communities and industries in the energy transition and by helping to overcome the economic and technical barriers to well reuse.
Link to the presentation: Transnational Stakeholder Workshop