The driving force in deep drilling.
The exploration of deep underground energy sources poses an enormous challenge. Deep drilling operations place both team and technology under extreme and permanent pressure. The required timeframes for achieving targets are tight, and the demands for human safety and the stability of the drill hole are very high. Whether the search for and utilization of new onshore and offshore energy sources is economically reasonable also depends on the efficiency of the drilling technology used.
Geothermal Energy
A Herrenknecht Vertical TI-350 deep drilling rig was used to sink two wells for a geothermal power plant in Kirchstockach near Munich. The wells were successfully sunk to final depths of 4,214 and 4,452 meters in 101 and 81 days, respectively. From summer 2010, the power plant will provide energy from geothermal heat; a capacity of up to five megawatts is the aim. Experts say that large parts of Bavaria are particularly suitable for geothermal energy projects.
In the center of the southern German city of Freiburg a total of 108 wells to depths of up to 125 m were sunk involving a newly developed Herrenknecht mobile vertical drilling rig VB10 during the construction of a new office complex. This is a sign of the boom in shallow geothermal energy which has been going on for years. More than 14,000 drills have been carried out in the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg alone.
Oil and Gas
The two TI-350T Terra Invader rigs which are currently in action in Brazil’s Bahia region to search for oil, must be dismantled after each successful well, transported to the next drilling location and erected there. As 80 wells are planned, it is of enormous importance that the entire transfer process is carried out as quickly and costeffectively as possible. For this reason, the Herrenknecht Vertical engineers have equipped the rigs with a special mechanical feature, the so-called slingshot system, which functions as follows: the rigs are assembled at the drilling location in a horizontal position. Subsequently, the drilling rigs are raised using a hydraulic lifting system. The advantage is that in areas with difficult accessibility the mast and the substructure can be raised to the required working level without additional equipment. There is no need for large cranes which reduces the cost and effort of transferring the rig from one drilling location to another.
