Hot-dry-rock geothermal-energy development program. Annual report, fiscal year 1981

Technical Report · Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1981

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5349519· OSTI ID:5349519

Smith, M C; Ponder, G M ^[1]

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1. comps.

During fiscal year 1981, activities of the Hot Dry Rock Geothermal Energy Development Program were concentrated in four principal areas: (1) data collection to permit improved estimates of the hot dry rock geothermal energy resource base of various regions of the United States and of the United States as a whole, combined with detailed investigations of several areas that appear particularly promising either for further energy extraction experiments or for future commercial development; (2) successful completion of a 9-month, continuous, closed-loop, recirculating flow test in the enlarged Phase I System at Fenton Hill, New Mexico - a pressurized-water heat-extraction loop developed in low-permeability granitic rock by hydraulic fracturing; (3) successful completion at a depth of 4084 m (13,933 ft) of well EE-3, the production well of a larger, deeper, and hotter, Phase II System at Fenton Hill. Well EE-3 was directionally drilled with control of both azimuth and inclination. Its inclined section is about 380 m (1250 ft) vertically above the injection well, EE-2, which was completed in FY80; and (4) supporting activities included new developments in downhole instrumentation and equipment, geochemical and geophysical studies, rock-mechanics and fluid-mechanics investigations, computer analyses and modeling, and overall system design. Under an International Energy Agency agreement, the New Energy Development Organization, representing the Government of Japan has joined Kernforschungsanlage-Juelich GmbH, representing the Federal Republic of Germany, and the US Department of Energy as an active participant in the Fenton Hill Hot Dry Rock Project.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 5349519
• Report Number(s): LA-9287-HDR; ON: DE82017382
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Portions of document are illegible
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
HOT-DRY-ROCK SYSTEMS
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
DIRECTIONAL DRILLING
FLOW RATE
FLUID MECHANICS
GEOTHERMAL WELLS
HEAT EXTRACTION
HEAT TRANSFER
HYDRAULIC FRACTURING
INJECTION WELLS
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NEW MEXICO
PROGRAM MANAGEMENT
ROCK MECHANICS
SEISMICITY
TESTING
WELL COMPLETION
COMMINUTION
DRILLING
ENERGY SYSTEMS
ENERGY TRANSFER
FEDERAL REGION VI
FRACTURING
GEOTHERMAL SYSTEMS
MANAGEMENT
MECHANICS
NORTH AMERICA
USA
WELLS
Geothermal Legacy
150906* - Geothermal Engineering- Reservoir Stimulation & Extraction Technology