Geothermal Exploration Campaign Launches in North Vaudois, Switzerland
Yverdon-les-Bains,โ Switzerland โค- โ A large-scale geothermal prospecting campaign, dubbed โ”Geothermy,” has begun in the North Vaudois region of Switzerland, encompassingโข 29 municipalities and โขnearly 100 square kilometers. โขThe project, spearheaded โฃby the Yom consortium – comprised of Y-CAD, Orllati Real Estate, and natural Malmenergie – aims to map the โregion’s subsurface resources, including potentialโฃ geothermalโข and water reserves.
The first phase ofโ the campaign, running until the end of September,โฃ willโฃ focus on identifying locations for the installation of 20,000 sensors (geophones).Data acquisition will then commence onโ October 20th, utilizing vibrating โขtrucks operating between 8 p.m. and 5 โคa.m. for approximately two andโข a half weeks.
“It โis a question of โestablishing a three-dimensional cartography of the subsoil. It will โคaim to better know our โฃgeothermal resources, but also โsimply in water,” โคexplained Pierre-Alain Kreutschy,โค director of โขY-CAD, during โa press briefing.
While the Yverdon โฃregion isโ historically known for its thermal baths and hot water sources, the precise location of viable geothermal targets โremainsโ unknown. “Our goal is to find potentialโค targets,” Kreutschy added.
Currently, the โproject is focused on data collection, with โany potential drilling operations not โฃanticipated โฃbefore 2028, according to Davidโ Polasek of Hydro-Geoโ Environnement.โฃ The โYom consortium will notifyโ residents of the 29 affected municipalities – a population of betweenโ 30,000 and 40,000 – regarding the schedule of the vibrating trucks.โ Polasek assuredโ that the vibrations pose no danger to homes andโค will cause minimal โฃdiscomfort, estimated at around five minutesโ perโ resident.
The prospecting campaign โcarriesโ a price tagโข of โ7.6 million Swiss francs,โ with 60% โขof the funding provided by the Federal Energy Office and the remainder covered byโฃ the consortium companies.
This campaign follows similar geothermal prospecting efforts earlier โin 2025 on the Vaud coastโ and in the Lausanne region, and precedes a planned exploration in โthe Broye district. the Canton of Vaud estimates that โฃhydrothermalโค geothermal energy could perhaps meetโ up to 25% of the canton’s heating needs, with โthe State โคcouncil anticipating the โคdevelopment of around 20 geothermal production sites by 2050.
Previous deepโข borehole explorations in the cantonโ – in Lavey-les-Bains, Montagny-Prรจs-yverdon, andโฃ Vinzel – have faced challenges. The Lavey-les-Bains andโ Montagny-prรจs-Yverdon projects were halted due to โinsufficient โdrilling speed, while the โคVinzel borehole yielded water โthat was not hot enough.
(Source: ATS / HKR)