Lessons learned from the pioneering hot dry rock project at Fenton Hill, USA

Abstract

Interest in geothermal energy production has grown rapidly in recent years due to the increasing demand for clean, renewable, domestic energy. Recent publications have suggested that geothermal energy from Enhanced Geothermal Systems could satisfy a large portion of the energy needs in the U.S. if the technology were implemented on a large scale. Pertinent to this goal are many of the lessons learned from the pioneering Hot Dry Rock project aimed at producing usable energy form the heat of the earth, conducted from 1970 to 1995at Fenton Hill, New Mexico, USA. During this project, the Los Alamos National Laboratory created and tested two reservoirs at depths in the range of 2.8 to 3.5 km in crystalline rock formations underlying the Fenton Hill site. Thermal energies in the range of 3-10 MWt were produced demonstrating the technical feasibility of the concept. Many important lessons were learned regarding the creation, engineering and operation of such subsurface systemsthese lessons will prove valuable as the geothermal community moves towards the goal of realizing the immense potential of this ubiquitous renewable energy resource.The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief, easy to read overview of this pioneering project.

Multifracture response to supercritical CO 2 ‐EGS and water‐EGS based on thermo‐hydro‐mechanical coupling method

“…Enhanced geothermal system (EGS) was designed to exploit these HDRs by hydraulic‐fracturing (HF) treatments to reactivate and induce fractures in the subsurface rock. The successful implementation of EGS project in Fenton Hill motivated other countries to exploit and develop their deep HDRs resources …”

Sistemas geotérmicos mejorados: revisión y análisis de casos de estudio

“…El primer acercamiento a los EGS, tiene su origen en el laboratorio nacional de Los Álamos (LANL), ciudad de Nuevo México, en Estados Unidos, con el proyecto Fenton Hill (Olasolo et al, 2016) que fue llevado a cabo entre los años de 1974 a 1995 (Xia et al, 2017). El área fue seleccionada porque las rocas precámbricas cristalinas, formación objetivo, son térmicamente aisladas por depósitos sedimentarios paleozoicos de grano fino y de gran espesor, a su vez recubiertos por lava y toba volcánica de flujos de ceniza del Campo Volcánico de Jemez, ubicado a 15-40 km de LANL (Kelkar et al, 2016). Las investigaciones y trabajo de campo fueron desarrollados en un yacimiento de 3000 m de profundidad con una temperatura de aproximadamente 200°C, donde 13 perforaciones permitieron ubicar un área de alto flujo de calor (Lu, 2018).…”

Economic analysis of heating for an enhanced geothermal system based on a simplified model in Yitong Basin, China

“…Enhanced geothermal system (EGS) is a method that the artificial stimulation can improve low permeability and porosity of HDR reservoir, and economically extract heat, which the concept was proposed by the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in the United States . The first EGS project at Fenton Hill was conducted by the United States in 1973. And other EGS projects at Desert Peak, Geysers, Raft River, Rosemanowes, Soultz, Habanero, Hijiori, Ogachi, Pohang, and DEEPEGS have launched in the world.…”