Good-Practice Guide for Managing Induced Seismicity in Deep Geothermal Energy Projects in Switzerland

The Swiss Seismological Service at ETH Zurich (SED, www.seismo.ethz.ch) wants to contribute to the sustainable and safe use of deep geothermal energy with this report on good practice in monitoring, assessment, and management of induced seismicity related to the exploitation of deep geothermal energy. The report is aimed at a range of audiences: – field operators, – regulators at the local, cantonal, or federal level, – insurance companies looking to assess the financial risk, – as well as media and the general public that wish to be informed on the topic. The report builds on the broad knowledge and experience that the SED has collected in the past years through participation in the monitoring as well as in the hazard and risk assessment for several deep geothermal projects in Switzerland. These projects include Basel (2006-today), Zurich (2010-2011), St. Gallen (2013-2021), Schlattingen (2013-2015), Geneva (2016-today), and the canton of Vaud (2019-today). In this context, the GEOBEST2020+ project, funded by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE), is instrumental in gaining experience in seismic monitoring and induced-seismic hazard and risk assessment. The report also builds on research at the SED and at the Swiss Competence Center for Energy Research – Supply of Electricity (SCCER-SoE) and was coordinated with the international guideline development within the DEEP project. It benefits from the re- search and discussions with colleagues from other countries, such as during the Schatzalp workshops on induced seismicity in Davos in March 2015, March 2017, March 2019, and March 2025. We also profit in many parts from the TA Swiss study ‘Energy from the Earth’ (Hirschberg et al., 2015), where the SED was a major contributor.