The Haute-Sorne project is progressing but it cannot be performed during the DESTRESS timeframe project. Due to a legal process initiated by opponents of the project in the Canton of Jura, the Haute-Sorne project was delayed. Additionally, shortly after the Pohang Mw 5.5 earthquake in November 2017, the Government of Jura requested Geo-Energie Suisse (GES) to provide a report on the Pohang events and their possible implications on the Haute-Sorne project. After about one year of work by up to eight specialists, the report was handed over to the cantonal authorities in January 2019, which requested the Swiss Seismological Service (SED) to evaluate it. The cantonal authorities received the SED evaluation report in October 2019 and will give a statement about the geothermal project authorization in 2020.

Besides the technical work, GES had to provide to maintain the validity of the Haute-Sorne geothermal project authorization, it appeared that it was impossible conducting the pilot and demonstration part of DESTRESS, originally planned in the first well of Haute-Sorne, within the scheduled timeframe. Due to the fact that the DESTRESS project heavily relies on demonstrating conditions of Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) creation, GES proposed to relocate the Haute-Sorne experiment at the new Bedretto Underground Laboratory in Ticino, Switzerland.