Professional Documents
Culture Documents
David V. Duchane
Earth and Environmental Sciences Division
Los Alamos National Laboratory
P. 0. BOX1663, MS-D443
Los Alamos, NM 87544
(505) 667-9893/(505) 667-8487
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surface. Such hydrothermal resources are used to generate
electric power at about 20 sites in the western United States and
at a number of other locations around the world. More than
5,000 MW of geothermal electricity-generating capacity is in
place today, and power production from geothermal energy is
increasing rapidly in countries such as The Philippines and
Indonesia. By far the largest amount of geothermal energy is
found, however, in rock that is hot but is not in contact with
the mobile fluid needed to bring its thermal energy to the
surface.
Attempts to recover useful amounts of energy from this large
HDR resource, that comprises more than 99% of the
geothermal energy at attainable depths in the earth's crust,
have been underway in the United States and elsewhere for more
than 20 years. Remarkable progress has been made in bringing
HDR technology from the raw concept described in a patent
issued to the Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1974 (Potter,
et al) to the stage of practical demonstration. The major
technical issues have been resolved. The remaining barriers to
widespread implementation of HDR technology for energy
production are primarily economic and financial. In the face of
low domestic energy prices, it has not been possible so far to
offset, with the promise of a sufficient financial reward, the
risks inherent in implementing this promising technology in
today's highly competitive energy market.
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The volume of this Phase I reservoir was estimated at about approximately 30' to the vertical. The reservoir is located at an
3.5 million cubic feet, far too small for practical, long-term approximate depth of 11,000-12,000 f t in rock at a
operation. Thermal drawdown was observed early in the flow- temperature of 440-460'F. Both wellbores are uncased below
test series and persisted in spite of several attempts to enlarge 10,800 ft where they penetrate the reservoir. On average, the
the heat-transfer surface of the reservoir. Although open-hole portions of the wellbores are about 360 ft apart.
experiments with this initial HDR reservoir provided scientific Simple geometric calculations, seismic analyses, and tracer
proof that engineered geothermal reservoirs could be created and hydro-mechanical testing indicate that the effective
and exploited, it was clear that a much larger reservoir would be volume of the Phase I1 reservoir is about 750 million cubic
needed in order to demonstrate the kind of long-term, steady- feet.
state energy production that would be required for practical Between 1987 and 1991, an automated surface plant, built to
applications. power plant standards, was constructed at Fenton Hill and
mated to the underground system (Ponden, 1991). With this
plant in place, the HDR system can be operated routinely as a
DeveloDment of the Current HDR Svstem closed, energy extraction loop. A high-pressure injection
In 1980, under an International Energy Agency agreement, pump provides the sole motive power for fluid circulation. The
scientists and engineers from the United States, Japan, and injection pressure must be high enough to hold open the joints
Germany began working together to design and construct a that allow flow through the reservoir, but not so high as to
second HDR reservoir at Fenton Hill. Experience with the cause additional joints to open at the periphery of the
Phase I system had led to a consensus that hydraulic reservoir, since the latter condition leads to uncontrolled
stimulation in crystalline rock would create vertical, disk reservoir growth as indicated by seismic activity and excessive
shaped fractures. Based on this hypothesis, two wellbores were water consumption. Water is typically injected into the Fenton
drilled, with the final 3,280 ft of each wellbore trajectory Hill system at surface pressures of about 3,960 psi, and
inclined at an angle of 35" to the vertical, and a vertical returned to the surface with an applied backpressure on the
separation of somewhat more than 1,OOO ft between the angled production wellhead of 1,400-2,200 psi. At the surface, the
portions of the wellbores. The deeper well penetrated into rock pressure is reduced to about 700 psi. The fluid is passed through
14,400 ft below the surface at a temperature of about 620'F. a particlelgas separator and an air-cooled heat exchanger that
Hydraulic stimulation experiments began in 1982, by wastes the extracted geothermal energy to the atmosphere.
pumping water under high pressure into isolated portions of Makeup water is then added to the main circulation loop to
the lower wellbore. The intent was to create a number of replace the water lost in transit through the underground
artificial fractures connecting the lower wellbore to the upper reservoir, as the fluid flows back to the inlet of the injection
wellbore. The combined surface area of the multiple of fractures Pump.
would then provide enough contact area between the reservoir
rock and the circulating water to assure a long reservoir thermal Fenton Hill Flow Testina Results
lifetime. Numerous stimulation experiments were conducted in A series of flow tests of the Phase II HDR reservoir were
the lower wellbore over the next two years, but no fluid was conducted between 1992 and 1995. Three of those tests
produced from the upper wellbore. entailed steady-state operation of the reservoir on an around-
Analyses of the microearthquakes caused by the stimulation the-clock basis for periods ranging from 56 to 112 days.
experiments indicated that it was, in fact, unlikely that During these periods the plant was operated in a fully
continued hydraulic stimulation would ever lead to a automated mode with provision for automatic shutdown in the
connection between the two wellbores. The locations of the event of malfunction of key components. Personnel were on
microearthquakes showed that a 3-dimensional reservoir zone site during normal working hours and for brief periods on
was being developed along the approximate orientation of the weekends, but much of the time the plant operated completely
lower wellbore. This observation led to a complete revision of unattended except for a security guard who was present to deter
the concept of engineered geothermal reservoir creation and vandalism. Although, brief system shutdowns were scheduled
growth. Rather than creating artificial, vertical fractures, it for system maintenance or resulted from inadvertent
became clear that hydraulic stimulation simply caused occurrences such as weather-induced power failures, the Fenton
preexisting natural joints to open. The growth of the Hill plant was on line for more than 95% of the time during all
engineered reservoir was therefore governed by the earth of the steady-state tests. As shown by the data of Table 1, the
stresses and the orientations of the natural rock joints in the steady-state test results were remarkably consistent.
stimulated region. With this idea in mind, the upper wellbore The flow tests of 1992-1995 demonstrated the extremely
was partially sanded-up and then redrilled on a trajectory which reliable performance obtained during routine operation of the
seismic information indicated would penetrate the major large Fenton Hill HDR system. Fluid production levels were
reservoir zone. When this was done, a flow connection was stable, there was no decline in the production temperature, and
rapidly established. A 30-day flow test in 1986 verified that the dissolved species in the circulating fluid rapidly reached
continuous production of energy from the deeper (Phase 11) equilibrium concentrations at a total dissolved solids level
reservoir was feasible. The bottom of the lower wellbore, approximately one-tenth that of seawater. Almost no
which had been damaged during the extensive fracture suspended solids were brought to the surface. Tracer analyses
operations, was then sanded-up and redrilled nearby to conducted periodically during all three flow tests revelled the
complete the underground system utilized in all subsequent dynamic nature of the flow paths within the reservoir. Some
testing. flow paths closed while others opened as circulation proceeded,
The present Phase II HDR system consists of two wellbores with overall fluid access to the hot reservoir rock increasing
penetrating an elongated reservoir with its major axis tilted with time.
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Table 1: HDR Flow Test Data
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serve as an acceptable heat transfer fluid in an HDR system. REFERENCES
Cogeneration of both energy and clean water may be the key to Brown, D. W., 1996, "Experimental Verification of the Load-
making HDR economically competitive by simultaneously Following Potential of a Hot Dry Rock Geothermal Reservoir,"
addressing two of the most important problems in every area Proceedings of the Twenty-First Workshop on Geothermal
where human population is increasing. Reservoir Engineering, Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA, in press.
Dash, Z. V., H. D. Murphy, and G. M. Cremer, Eds., 1981,
"Hot Dry Rock Geothermal Reservoir Testing: 1978 to 1980,"
CONCLUSIONS Los Alamos National Laboratory Report LA-9080-SR, Los
The geothermal energy in HDR is a vast resource found almost Alamos, NM.
everywhere in the world. Research and development work House, L., 1987, "Locating Microearthquakes Induced by
conducted by the Los Alamos National Laboratory at the Hydraulic Fracturing in Crystalline Rock," Geophysical
Fenton Hill test site has taken the technology to extract HDR Research Letfers, Vol 14, (9), pp 919-921.
energy from the conceptual stage through a concrete Ponden, R. F., 1991, "The Design and Construction of a Hot
demonstration that useful amounts of energy can be routinely Dry Rock Pilot Plant," Proceedings of the U . S. Department of
produced. Flow testing during 1992-1995 has shown that HDR Energy Geothemal Program Review IX,pp 149-151.
systems are reliable and resilient. HDR technology has a Potter, R. M., E. S. Robinson, and M. C . Smith, 1974,
number of unique characteristics that make it particularly suited "Method of Extracting Heat from Dry Geothermal Reservoirs,"
to the developing energy needs of the world. These include U S . Patent #3,786,858.
operational flexibility that can provide energy as needed to
rapidly meet peaking or unanticipated power demands and the
potential for cogeneration of both energy and clean water.
HDR technology has been shown to be practical and versatile.
The next logical step in making HDR a viable energy resource
is to develop an HDR system that will generate and market
power, thereby providing the practical operating and economic
data needed to promote the rapid commercial application of
this unique energy technology.
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