Geothermal exploration in a cost-competitive international energy market
- Geo Hills Associates, Los Altos Hills, CA (United States)
The cost of exploration for, and confirmation of, an economic geothermal reservoir can be reduced by at least fifty percent (50%) with the use of diagnostic exploration surveys and slimhole technology. Although many technical papers and text-books on geothermal exploration have been published during the past twenty-five years, the goal of the present paper is to present the elements of a cost effective exploration paradigm for the identification, delineation and verification of economically viable geothermal reservoirs. The high cost of drilling large-diameter geothermal wells will usually justify the use, on a given prospect, of basically all of the exploration tools that will be discussed. Furthermore, with the use of slim holes in geothermal exploration to identify and evaluate the productive capacity of the geothermal reservoir, the high cost of large-diameter exploration wells will also be eliminated. However, in nearly every case, the cost of geothermal exploration represents a minor share of the total geothermal power project costs and the elimination of one non-productive geothermal well will almost always offset the exploration budget.
- OSTI ID:
- 602713
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-971048-; TRN: 98:001318-0053
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Geothermal Resources Council (GRC) annual meeting, San Francisco, CA (United States), 12 Oct 1997; Other Information: PBD: 1997; Related Information: Is Part Of Meeting the challenge of increased competition; PB: 665 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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