Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) R&D Program
The purpose of this workshop was to develop technical background facts necessary for planning continued research and development of Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS). EGS are geothermal reservoirs that require improvement of their permeability or fluid contents in order to achieve economic energy production. The initial focus of this R&D program is devising and testing means to extract additional economic energy from marginal volumes of hydrothermal reservoirs that are already producing commercial energy. By mid-1999, the evolution of the EGS R&D Program, begun in FY 1988 by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), reached the stage where considerable expertise had to be brought to bear on what technical goals should be pursued. The main purpose of this Workshop was to do that. The Workshop was sponsored by the Office of Geothermal Technologies of the Department of Energy. Its purpose and timing were endorsed by the EGS National Coordinating Committee, through which the EGS R&D Program receives guidance from members of the U.S. geothermal industry. Section 1.0 of this report documents the EGS R&D Program Review Session. There, managers and researchers described the goals and activities of the program. Recent experience with injection at The Geysers and analysis of downhole conditions at Dixie Valley highlighted this session. Section 2.0 contains a number of technical presentations that were invited or volunteered to illuminate important technical and economic facts and opportunities for research. The emphasis here was on fi.acture creation, detection, and analysis. Section 3.0 documents the initial general discussions of the participants. Important topics that emerged were: Specificity of defined projects, Optimizing cost effectiveness, Main technical areas to work on, Overlaps between EGS and Reservoir Technology R&D areas, Relationship of microseismic events to hydraulic fractures, and Defining criteria for prioritizing research thrusts. Sections 4.0 and 5.0 report the meat of the Workshop. Section 4.0 describes the nomination and clarification of technical thrusts, and Section 5.0 reports the results of prioritizing those thrusts via voting by the participants. Section 6.0 contains two discussions conducted after the work on research thrusts. The topics were ''Simulation'' and ''Stimulation''. A number of technical points that emerged here provide important guidance for both practical field work on EGS systems and for research.
- Research Organization:
- Princeton Energy Resources, International, Rockville, MD
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AM07-97D13517
- OSTI ID:
- 896393
- Report Number(s):
- EGS-Report 2000-4B (Final); TRN: US200706%%503
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: EGS Workshop 3: August 1999, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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