The Horizon Europe–funded COMPASS Project has officially concluded, marking the end of three years of research, innovation, and collaboration to advance next-generation geothermal well technologies.

Launched in 2022 and coordinated by ON Power and Reykjavík Energy (Iceland), COMPASS brought together 10 European partners from research, industry, and policy fields to tackle the toughest challenges of superhot geothermal development — corrosion, thermal stress, and annular pressure build-up.

The project’s final chapter unfolded at the European Geothermal Congress (EGC 2025) in Zurich, where COMPASS held its official closing event, “Superhot Results & Cool Drinks.” Hosted by GEORG and COSVIG, the session celebrated the consortium’s achievements and its contribution to Europe’s clean-energy transition.

Technical breakthroughs

COMPASS successfully demonstrated:

• EHLA cladding technology that creates corrosion-resistant surfaces on conventional steel casings — cutting costs and emissions compared with full-CRA solutions.

• Flexible foam cement formulations and annular pressure build-up (APB) relief systems, improving casing integrity and mitigating thermal-stress damage in wells exceeding 200 °C.

• Integrated digital design and decision-support tools to model the thermal–mechanical behaviour of wells across their lifecycle.

These advances will extend geothermal well lifetimes, lower maintenance and material costs, and reduce the environmental footprint of deep drilling operations.

Social and policy impact

Beyond materials science, COMPASS also produced communication and social-acceptance frameworks that help developers engage communities early, build trust, and ensure that technical innovation goes hand-in-hand with societal dialogue.
Policy recommendations released in the project’s final deliverables call for European-level support to scale up superhot demonstration projects, update standards for high-temperature well design, and integrate stakeholder-engagement guidelines into permitting processes.

Collaboration across Europe

Throughout its lifetime, COMPASS fostered strong synergies with other Horizon Europe initiatives — notably GEOSYN, under a formal collaboration agreement that paved the way for joint dissemination and cross-sector learning.

Events and outreach

From the COMPASS Week in Reykjavík to its presence at international conferences, the project maintained an active communication strategy led by GEORG, reaching thousands through its website, newsletters, and social-media channels.

Looking ahead

The consortium’s partners are now preparing follow-up actions, including pilot validation, licensing, and integration of COMPASS results into future geothermal standards.

As Hera Grímsdóttir (Director of Research and Innovation at Orkuveitan) summarized at the closing event:

“COMPASS showed that sustainable geothermal wells are not just a technical goal — they are a cornerstone of Europe’s clean-energy resilience.”