A History of Geothermal Energy Research and Development in the United States. Reservoir Engineering 1976-2006

Kennedy, B. Mack; Pruess, Karsten; Lippmann, Marcelo J.; Majer, Ernest L.; Rose, Peter; Adams, Michael C.; Roberston-Tait, Ann; Møller, Nancy; Weare, John H.; Clutter, Ted J.; Brown, Donald W.

doi:10.2172/1218859

Cited by 7 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 89 publications

(135 reference statements)

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“…Due to the great depths and the associated high in-situ stresses, the formations usually have very low permeability, which would need to be increased. Hydraulic stimulation is one of the most important methods used to increase the reservoir permeability as well as the heat exchange area of the reservoir (Tester et al 2006;Kennedy et al 2010;Meyer and Bazan 2011;Pan et al 2019;Yin et al 2020Yin et al , 2021a. Hydraulic stimulation is a relatively complicated coupled process involving fluid flow, new fracture creation, tensile and shear deformation of newly created and pre-existing natural fractures, and fluid leakoff from fractures to rock matrix at multiple space and time scales.The initial concept of hydraulic stimulation assumed that a single, planar tensile fracture was formed in the direction of the maximum stress, which appears to be what happens in oil and gas reservoirs (Brown et al 2012), and this was named hydraulic fracturing.…”

Section: The Mechanism Of Permeability Enhancement In Egsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Phase II, wells EE-2 and EE-3 were drilled to depths of approximately 3500 m. Conventional hydraulic fracturing was performed in the EE-2 well aiming at creating a penny-shaped fracture propagating upwards to intersect the EE-3 borehole above. During a 2.5-day period, about 21,000 m 3 water was injected into well EE-2 with an average fluid pressure of about 48.0 MPa at the surface (Kennedy et al 2010). Figure 8c shows the flow rate and fluid pressure evolution with time.…”

Section: Fenton Hill Usamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They pointed out that the natural fracture systems in these granite rocks were likely to be closed, which means that the natural fractures are isolated from the general fluid flow in the domain. Kennedy et al (2010). e The microseismic map after the hydraulic fracturing in well EE-3 (Dash et al 1985).…”

Section: Cooper Basin Australiamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Hydraulic stimulation strategies in enhanced geothermal systems (EGS): a review

Jia

Tsang

Hammar

et al. 2022

Geomech. Geophys. Geo-energ. Geo-resour.

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In enhanced geothermal systems (EGS), the natural permeability of deep rocks is normally not high enough and needs to be increased. Permeability increase can be achieved through various stimulation methods, such as hydraulic, chemical, and thermal stimulation. Among these, hydraulic stimulation is the most commonly used technique to increase both reservoir permeability and the specific area for heat exchange. A comprehensive understanding of the underlying processes towards an optimization of hydraulic stimulation performance while minimizing the potential of unwanted induced seismicity is a critical prerequisite for a successful development of any EGS site. In this paper, we review the hydraulic stimulation strategies that have been developed and implemented for EGS. We begin with a description of the underlying mechanisms through which the permeability and heat exchange area increases are achieved. We then discuss the mechanisms of fluid injection-induced seismicity during and after a hydraulic stimulation operation. After that, alternative hydraulic stimulation strategies, namely conventional hydraulic stimulation, multi-stage fracturing, and cyclic soft stimulation, are reviewed based on current research in theoretical studies as well as, laboratory, and in-situ field experiments. Finally, some representative EGS projects are reviewed, focusing on fluid injection strategies, seismic responses, and reservoir permeability enhancement performance. The review shows the importance and need of (a) a comprehensive geological characterization of the natural fracture system including the nearby fault zones as well as the in-situ stress conditions, prior to the development of the site, (b) a proper design of the well arrangement, such as the positioning of the injection and production wells, and (c) the selection of an appropriate fluid injection strategy for the system at hand.

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Section: The Mechanism Of Permeability Enhancement In Egsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Fenton Hill Usamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Hydraulic stimulation strategies in enhanced geothermal systems (EGS): a review

Jia

Tsang

Hammar

et al. 2022

Geomech. Geophys. Geo-energ. Geo-resour.

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“…The Geysers geothermal field in the United States is the largest geothermal field in the world. In view of the serious decline of steam production and power generation capacity caused by the excessive decrease of geothermal reservoir pressure, at the same time, in order to deal with the steam condensate, the reinjection was started in 1970, and the results showed that reinjection significantly improved the productivity of geothermal field (Kennedy et al 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimization of reinjection well placement in the fault-controlled hydrothermal system using numerical simulation

Yao

Xiang

Jia

2022

Preprint

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Geothermal tail water reinjection is an effective measure to maintain the sustainable production of geothermal resources and prevent the problems of geological environment. In order to avoid excessive thermal breakthrough and pressure drop of the geothermal reservoir, it is very necessary to optimize the distance between the production and reinjection wells. Here in this work, based on the conceptual model of hydrothermal genesis in Yanggao-Tianzhen Basin, a fault-controlled hydrothermal system, optimization of reinjection well placement has been conducted by using numerical simulation which incorporates all the geological and physical processes. Considering the different distance and upstream and downstream positions of production and reinjection wells, the temperature field evolution of the geothermal reservoir and the water pressure evolution in the production well were compared under each case condition. The temperature field evolution revealed that the shorter distance between production and injection wells, the faster the thermal breakthrough. When the reinjection well is located in the upstream of the production well, the thermal breakthrough will be faster than in the downstream. The water pressure evolution in the production well showed that the water level of the production well decreased insignificantly during the simulation time. It is found that the reservoir pressure can be basically maintained conditional on the whole geothermal tail water is reinjected. Based on the above research results, it is better to place the reinjection well at 1km in downstream of the production well. The findings are helpful for the sustainable exploitation of geothermal reservoir.

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“…This author considered the parameters affecting the performance of drilling in a predictive model. Kennedy et al [11] at the U.S. Department of Energy conducted a comprehensive survey of geothermal drilling studies in 2010. Shevenell [12] tried to generate the geothermal well drilling cost by applying publicly-available data and empiricallyderived cost-depth relevance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feasibility study and economic analysis of geothermal well drilling

Shamoushaki

Fiaschi

Manfrida

et al. 2021

International Journal of Environmental Studies

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This paper reports a comprehensive survey of well drilling time and cost. The models include both specific correlations on various well types and generalised correlations for rough estimation. The models are derived from robust multivariable regression to minimise the residuals. Africa has the highest construction cost component in well drilling and the United States has the lowest. Data in various regions are compared with European and World average drilling data. Drilling time in Italy is similar to Europe and world averages. The proposed model directly estimates both the drilling cost and time to be used in fundamental research and feasibility studies for geothermal power plants applicable worldwide.

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A History of Geothermal Energy Research and Development in the United States. Reservoir Engineering 1976-2006

Cited by 7 publications

References 89 publications

Hydraulic stimulation strategies in enhanced geothermal systems (EGS): a review

Hydraulic stimulation strategies in enhanced geothermal systems (EGS): a review

Optimization of reinjection well placement in the fault-controlled hydrothermal system using numerical simulation

Feasibility study and economic analysis of geothermal well drilling

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