Hot Dry Rock geothermal energy moving towards practical applications
The thermal energy present in hot rock at depth is a vast resource which has so far been tapped only in those unusual locations where natural fluids exist to transport that energy to the surface. For the past twenty years work has been underway at the Los Alamos National Laboratory to develop the technology to access and recovery the heat present in rock which is hot but contains no natural mobile fluid. The world`s first plant capable of sustained production of geothermal energy from HDR was completed in 1991. This facility combined an artificial geothermal reservoir of sufficient size and high enough temperature to deliver large amounts of useful energy with a surface plant built to power industry standards and capable of sustained, routine operation. During the past two years, extended testing at Fenton Hill has demonstrated that energy can be extracted from HDR on a continuous basis. Thermal energy was produced continuously at a rate of about 4 MW in two test phases lasting 112 and 55 days, respectively, and intermittently for a period of 7 1/2 months between the continuous test segments. Temperature measurements at the surface and at depth indicated no decline in the average discharge temperature of water from the reservoir over the span of the test. In fact, tracer testing indicated that access of the circulating water to the hot reservoir rock improved as the test proceeded.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 10129359
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-94-577; CONF-9404107-3; ON: DE94007574
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: New Mexico conference on the environment,Albuquerque, NM (United States),24-26 Apr 1994; Other Information: PBD: [1994]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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