Sensors used for geothermal energy were stolen, then set on fire
Le Quotidien jurassien/Le Temps (Switzerland), April 19, 2024

Residents of a neighborhood south of Bassecourt had a restless start to the night on Wednesday April 17. Shortly after 11 p.m., they were disturbed by the sound of an explosion. “There was a fire in the middle of the road,” says one resident. While the fire lasted for many minutes and gave off thick smoke, this witness later discovered that the fire had been started on a pile of electronic equipment.

“My first reaction was to think that someone had set fire to a box of fireworks”, confides the man who called the local council the following morning. On the contrary, it was a number of geophones currently being used as part of a geophysical measurement campaign in the valley.

Since April 9, seismic vibrator trucks have been criss-crossing the Delémont valley to collect measurements for the deep geothermal energy project [4 to 5 kilometers underground to generate electricity] planned for the commune of Haute-Sorne, with the goal of exploratory drilling starting in May. These trucks cause vibrations, and the subsoil reflects these waves in different ways depending on the nature and structure of the rock. These are sensors planted in the ground, geophones, at regular intervals, which then pick up the returned signals on the surface and record the data… and which were stolen and then set on fire.

This deep geothermal energy project, contested by some members of the local population, involves the construction of a geothermal power plant. If the results are positive, it could generate enough electricity to supply over 6,000 households. The overall budget is in the region of 100 million Swiss francs.