Results from Newberry Volcano EGS Demonstration, 2010–2014

Abstract

The Newberry Volcano EGS Demonstration is a 5 year field project designed to demonstrate recent technological advances for engineered geothermal systems (EGS) development. Advances in reservoir stimulation, diverter, and monitoring are being tested in a hot (>300°C), dry well (NWG 55-29) drilled in 2008. These technologies could significantly reduce the cost of electrical power generation from geothermal resources. The project, funded in part by the Department of Energy, began in 2010 with two years of permitting, technical planning, and development of a project-specific Induced Seismicity Mitigation Plan (ISMP). Well stimulation carried out in 2012 indicated that casing repairs were needed; confirmed by further wellbore logging and analysis in 2013. Repairs were completed in August 2014, and the well was re-stimulated in the fall. 9,500 m 3 (2.5 million gallons) of groundwater were injected at a maximum wellhead pressure of 195 bar (2850 psi) over 4 weeks of hydraulic stimulation. Injectivity changes, thermal profiles and seismicity indicate that fracture permeability in well NWG 55-29 was enhanced. The fifteen-station microseismic array (MSA) located 398 events in 2014, ranging in magnitude from M 0 to M 2.26. Temperature logs run after injection of thermally-degradable zonal isolation material (TZIM) showed that at least two flow zones were blocked and one or two new zones opened because of the injected TZIM. Breakdown products of TZIM were detected in flow-back fluids, indicating that the material degraded as predicted. This work demonstrates the viability of large-volume low-pressure stimulation coupled with non-mechanical diverter technology and microseismic monitoring for reservoir mapping.

Utilizing supercritical geothermal systems: a review of past ventures and ongoing research activities

“…The main focus of the project is to study the heat and mass transfer in the crust in view of natural hazards and geothermal energy resource utilization. The Newberry Volcano contains one of the largest geothermal reservoirs in the western United States with a conductive thermal anomaly at ≈320 °C at 3000 m depths (Cladouhos et al 2016). It is assumed that at depths <5000 m very high temperatures can be reached (ICDP 2017).…”

Hierarchical Bayesian Modeling of Fluid‐Induced Seismicity

“…The main feature of is that it is fully characterized by the fluid injection profile and three physically meaningful parameters. The model was fitted with the maximum likelihood estimate (MLE) method (see section 3.3) and was validated (see section 4) with reference to six fluid‐induced seismic sequences (Ake et al, ; Cladouhos et al, ; Häring et al, ; Holland, ; Jost et al, ; Kraft & Deichmann, ; Petty et al, ). In the supporting information, Table S1 and Text S1 provide the description and sources of the data sets, and Table S1 shows the MLE estimates, , which show the following parameter ranges: 0.77≤ b ≤1.6, −2.4≤ a f b ≤0.1, and 0.02≤ τ ≤13.7 [days].…”

Investigation on heat extraction characteristics in randomly fractured geothermal reservoirs considering thermo‐poroelastic effects

“…3 Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) are widely regarded as an efficient method to extract heat from the HDR. [8][9][10] Generally, EGS design is more focused on shear stimulation. Recently, cryogenic fracturing using liquid nitrogen or liquid carbon dioxide has raised many researchers' interest due to the thermal shock effect.…”

“…Recently, cryogenic fracturing using liquid nitrogen or liquid carbon dioxide has raised many researchers' interest due to the thermal shock effect. 9,10,12,14 The artificial EGS with embedded fracture networks can obviously improve the contact area between the rock matrix and the circulating fluid, thereby enhancing the heat extraction efficiency. [8][9][10] Generally, EGS design is more focused on shear stimulation.…”

“…[5][6][7] Some mining practices have confirmed that the combination of thermal-chemical-hydraulic (TCH) fracturing technology can induce a more pronounced stimulation effect in geothermal reservoirs than using any single stimulation method. [8][9][10] Generally, EGS design is more focused on shear stimulation. [11][12][13] It is believed that fluid injection can induce fracture shear slip, which contributes to the permeability enhancement of the whole reservoir.…”