Project InnerSpace in metadata bid to boost geothermal growth

Non-profit organization teams with International Heat Flow Commission and German Research Centre for Geoscience, GFZ

Non-profit geothermal organization Project InnerSpace has launched a two-year collaboration with the International Heat Flow Commission and the German Research Centre for Geoscience GFZ.

Together they hope to accelerate the Global Heat Flow Database, an assessment for geothermal analyses.

Their effort is backed by a €640,000 ($700,000) Project InnerSpace grant and led by Dr Sven Fuchs of GFZ, the custodian of the International Heat Flow Commission’s heat flow database.

The collaboration supports the ongoing systematic revision of the Global Heat Flow Database, which is currently performed by a network of voluntary scientists.

Since 2020, researchers have been updating incorrect, inconsistent, and missing data entries according to a new modernized metadata scheme, and categorizing each data entry based on data quality.

Project InnerSpace’s support is intended to expand and accelerate these efforts to maximize the database's potential for geothermal assessment.

Jamie Beard, Project Innerspace's founder and executive director, added: “As the world struggles to find a viable path toward a just, abundant, and efficient decarbonized future, geothermal is a beacon.”

“It’s time to go big or go home in building this massive clean energy source beneath us into a major player in our future energy mix.”

Watch Jamie Beard’s TED Talk here

The majority of work on continental data will be complete by 2024, with oceanic data finished by 2025.

The data will be publicly released by the IHFC after its completion.

Concurrently, Project InnerSpace is working with a large technology partner to incorporate the results into a freely-accessible spatial platform, the goal of which is to inform and accelerate decisions on advancing geothermal exploration and development.

"The substantial financial support provided by Project InnerSpace enables us to achieve the necessary revision of global heat-flow data much faster, and also facilitates the sustainable development of geothermal energy applications all over the world,” said Dr Fuchs.

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Work will start in March, funded by the $700K Project Innerspace grant, which supports two full-time scientists and a team of ten collaborating senior scientists, who will act as supervisors for a global network of 10-15 students and approximately 25 visiting scientists.

Project InnerSpace has a two-phase strategic plan for accelerating the deployment and growth of geothermal energy worldwide.

Phase one is to create a free and accessible global geothermal platform that can inform, de-risk, and accelerate decisions in the early stages of geothermal project development.

The second phase would support first-of-their-kind geothermal pilots in strategic locations across the world.

In a statement, Project InnerSpace said that “removing the major barriers to geothermal development by the end of this decade” would “unlock significant private investment in geothermal projects and accelerate the global energy transition”.

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