A consortium of research groups from ETH Zürich, EPF Lausanne, the Paul Scherrer Institute and the University of Bonn, collaborate in a comprehensive program of basic research on key aspects of Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGSs), with a focus on the system to be developed in Basel in December 2006. The work will contribute to understanding and developing an alternative and sustainable energy resource free of CO2-emission. Novel observation techniques and new process-simulation tools will be developed, partly building on data provided as a major ‘in-kind’ contribution by the industrial developers of the Basel Project. The overall aim of the project is to better understand the relevant processes and improve the predictability of EGSs for more extensive use in Switzerland and worldwide.