Unlocking Petrothermal Lithologies through Innovative Fracture Technologies (UPLIFT)

Basic research , Environment , Public policy

2026 - 2030

Provider	European Commision
Programme	Horizon Europe
Project code	101269511
Participants	GFZ Helmholtz-Zentrum fur Geoforschung (coordinator), Faculty of Science Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences Charles University, Geo - Energie Suisse AG, Fraunhofer Gesellschaft zur Forderung der Angewandten Forschung EV, Solexperts AG, Stiftelsen Fraunhofer- Chalmers Centrum for Industrimatematik, Federation Europeenne des Geologues, Eidgenoessische Technische Hochschule Zuerich

The core of UPLIFT is to demonstrate, at Czechia’s leading energy research site RINGEN, how multi-stage Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) stimulation can be efficiently implemented in Europe, while reducing technical, social, and environmental risks, thus spearheading a potential petrothermal energy revolution. UPLIFT brings together key European EGS industry and research institutions to answer 4 critical questions:

1. How can we reliably improve geothermal well productivity across diverse geological settings?
2. How can we mitigate injection-induced seismicity in urban areas?
3. How can we perform cost-efficient multi-stage stimulation treatments?
4. How can we increase social acceptance of EGS technologies?

We will address these questions by developing a new Micro-Turbine Drilling bottom-hole assembly (MTD-BHA) prototype for improved reservoir access and adaptive stimulation designs for more efficient and safe permeability enhancement. To support this, we will investigate the self-propping stimulation behaviour of representative European basement rocks through laboratory experiments and benchmark these results against acid and proppant-based stimulation methods, and we will compare water-only with proppant-based stimulation treatments in the Bedretto Underground Laboratory. Additionally, we will develop high-fidelity, physics-based Digital Twins to guide detailed EGS, MTD, and stimulation design, as well as fast surrogate models for real-time operational decision-making. We will also advance the local seismic monitoring network to achieve high-resolution, real-time reservoir imaging, quantify induced seismicity risks, and implement adaptive risk mitigation strategies during operations. Together, these developments will be demonstrated in a field-scale EGS pilot at RINGEN in Litoměřice, enabling cost and time reductions, improved geothermal performance and safety, real-time optimisation and predictive risk management, and technically robust operations that support environmental protection, social acceptance, and pathways for industrial deployment and long-term impact.
UPLIFT will allow our team’s technologies and state-of-the-art knowledge to integrate the European societal and legal context with recent multistage stimulation success in the US, to unlock the petrothermal energy potential in Europe, facilitating a significant increase in renewable electricity and heat provision by deep geothermal energy.