The EGS pilot plant is located in deep sedimentary structures which consists of two deep wells (4'300 m and 4'400 m) with an injection well (GrSk3/90) and a production well (GrSk4/05). The doublet system was established in 2007 and tested in the subsequent years. Downhole measurements and logging, well testing and reservoir stimulation tests, surface geophysical monitoring, reservoir simulation as well as cross-well measurements can be performed at this research platform. Reservoir stimulation and short-time testing were undertaken, but the long-term performance proved not to be sustainable due to chemical precipitation. The concept of circulation was based on a matrix dominated flow through the permeable sandstones between the doublets. Finally, no sustainable and sufficient flow rate could be achieved and it is assumed that the transmissibility between the wells is lower than expected from the previous testing.

In 2017, a 3D seismic survey in combination with borehole fibre optical monitoring (DAS, distributed acoustic sensing) and vertical seismic profiling (VSP), was performed to characterize in more detail the sedimentary and volcanic structures as well as potential fault structures and compartments.

Groß Schönebeck served as a fall-back option in the DESTRESS project.