Next stages in HDR technology development

Conference · Mon Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1993

OSTI ID:10140030

Duchane, D V

Twenty years of research and development have brought HDR heat mining technology from the purely conceptual stage to the establishment of an engineering-scale heat mine at Fenton Hill, NM. In April 1992, a long-term flow test (LTFT) of the HDR reservoir at Fenton Hill was begun. The test was carried out under steady-state conditions on a continuous basis for four months, but a major equipment failure in late July forced a temporary suspension of operations. Even this short test provided valuable information and extremely encouraging results as summarized below: There was no indication of thermal drawdown of the reservoir. There was evidence of increasing access to hot rock with time. Water consumption was in the rangki of 10--12%. Measured pumping costs were $0.003 per kilowatt of energy produced. Temperature logs conducted in the reservoir production zone during and after the flow test confirmed the fact that there was no decline in the average temperature of the fluid being produced from the reservoir. In fact, tracer testing showed that the fluid was taking more indirect pathways and thus contacting a greater amount of hot rock as the test progressed. Water usage quickly dropped to a level of 10--15 gallons per minute, an amount equivalent to about 10--12% of the injected fluid volume. At a conversion rate of 10--15%, these would translate to effective ``fuel costs`` of 2--3{cents} per kilowatt hour of electricity production potential. The completion of the LTFT will set the stage for commercialization of HDR but will not bring HDR technology to maturity. Relatively samples extensions of the current technology may bring significant improvements in efficiency, and these should be rapidly investigated. In the longer run, advanced operational concepts could further improve the efficiency of HDR energy extraction and may even offer the possibility of cogeneration schemes which solve both energy and water problems throughout the world.

• 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: 10140030
• Report Number(s): LA-UR--93-735; CONF-930186--1; ON: DE93008719
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
150800
150900
COMMERCIALIZATION
GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
GEOTHERMAL ENGINEERING
GEOTHERMAL POWER PLANTS
HOT-DRY-ROCK SYSTEMS
HYDRAULIC FRACTURING
PLANNING
POWER GENERATION
TESTING