Hot dry rock, an alternate geothermal energy resource: a challenge for instrumentation

Conference · Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1978

OSTI ID:5191309

Dennis, B R; Horton, E H

The natural internal heat from the Earth is one of the cleanest, nearly inexhaustible energy sources. The hot dry rock that composes most of the Earth's crust has the potential of becoming one of the largest reservoirs of energy economically available in the near future. The Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, for the past five years, has been working toward exploiting this very abundant, clean energy source. The LASL technique to demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of extracting heat from the hot dry rock source depends upon the connection of two deep boreholes drilled into impermeable precambrian granite where the temperature approaches 200/sup 0/C. The boreholes are connected by a system of hydraulic-produced fractures. Cold water flowing down the deeper hole will be heated by the hot rock and will be brought to the surface through the second hole. The hot water will be circulated through a closed-loop heat exchanger. The first phase of operating the 10 MW(t) heat extraction experiment will be conducted to determine the mechanical, physical and chemical properties of the reservoir and heat exchange system. Environmental effects will be carefully monitored. For optimum extraction of energy from this man-made geothermal reservoir, it is vital that the absolute location of the fractured system be well established. Fracture mapping techniques include an array of downhole instrumentation that must survive the hostile environment of the deep hot boreholes.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos Scientific Lab., N.Mex. (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 5191309
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-78-707; CONF-780503-8
• Resource Relation: Conference: 24. international instrumentation symposium, Albuquerque, NM, USA, 1 May 1978
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION
GEOTHERMAL WELLS
WELL LOGGING
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
BOREHOLES
CABLES
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
ENERGY SOURCE DEVELOPMENT
FLUID INJECTION
FRACTURES
HEAT EXTRACTION
HIGH PRESSURE
HOT-DRY-ROCK SYSTEMS
HYDRAULIC FRACTURING
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
REVIEWS
SAMPLERS
SEISMIC DETECTORS
SONIC LOGGING
TEMPERATURE LOGGING
TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT
THERMOCOUPLES
TRACER TECHNIQUES
CAVITIES
COMMINUTION
DOCUMENT TYPES
FAILURES
FRACTURING
GEOTHERMAL SYSTEMS
ISOTOPE APPLICATIONS
LABORATORY EQUIPMENT
WELLS
Geothermal Legacy
150303* - Geothermal Exploration & Exploration Technology- Exploratory Drilling & Well Logging
440400 - Well Logging Instrumentation