The furnace in the basement: Part 1, The early days of the Hot Dry Rock Geothermal Energy Program, 1970--1973

Abstract

Program, 1970Program, -1973 Morton C. Smith Geothermal gradient map of the conterminous United States (Kron, Wohletz, and Tubb, 1991) . FIG. 2 ........................................................................................................................................................ 9Jim Coleman with a laboratory scale rock-melting drill and scoria ejected from the melted hole (Robinson et al., I97 I). FIG. 3 ................................................................................................................................................... . 13 .................................................................................................................................................... 148 Record of surface pressure and the output of a vertical (Vl) and one of two horizontal components (H2) of the surface seismometer during the large fracturing experiment on April 4, 1973. (Dennis andPotter, 1974 PREFACEIn geology, the term "basement" generally refers to the crystalline rock that underlies the soils, gravels, and sedimentary formations that in most places constitute the uppermost layers of the earth's crust. Actually, however, the word is poorly defined since, with the exception of a few glassy materials such as obsidian, all rocks in fact are crystalline. Also, it covers a wide variety of rock types, including the metamorphic formations produced by the action of heat and pressure on such sedimentary rocks as sandstones and shales.In the present context, the meaning of the word is specialized further. Here it is taken to mean the igneous, plutonic, and metamorphic formations that-unless they have been fractured by earth movements or thermal effects-in general have very low permeability and free-water content; are likely to contain significant concentrations of naturally occurring unstable isotopes whose spontaneous decay produces heat; and through which heat is also conducted upward from the lower crust and mantle toward the earth's relatively cool outer surface. It is this general kind of rock that is most likely to exist in nature at usefully high temperatures and accessible depths in the earth's upper crust and to have permeability low enough to contain a pressurized-water circulation loop that can extract heat from the rock and transport it to the surface. Accordingly, basement rock so described has received primary attention in the Hot Dry Rock Geothermal Energy Program that is the subject of this report. There are, of course, other rock types that qualify as natural sources of thermal energy, but these are the subjects of other reports.This report describes the early history of the pioneer effort to develop a practical method of recovering useful energy from naturally heated rock in the earth's upper crust. It describes minor triumphs and disappointments and presents new evidence of the inherent perversity of nature, inanimate objects in general, much of mankind, and most bureaucracies. And it is undoubtedly biased by the fact that its author...

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

“…Goff and Grigsby 1982;Heiken and Goff 1983). The discovery of hightemperature hydrothermal reservoirs within the caldera complex by an oil exploration well drilled in 1960also confirmed the surface manifestations (Smith, 1995). Geothermal resources assessment drilling by Union Oil Company provided valuable information about the subsurface geology and structure and also indicated the existence of high-temperature hydrothermal resources within the Valles caldera complex.Thermal evolution modeling of the Valles Caldera supported the thermal measurements (Kolstad & McGetchin 1978).…”

“…In 1971, a search was initiated to identify a drilling site to test the HDR concept in the nearby Jemez volcanic field, approximately 15-30 km west of LANL (Smith, 1995). The volcanic and tectonic settings of the Jemez volcanic field provided the necessary conditions for the HDR experiment.…”

“…The HDR concept was developed in 1970 at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) (Brown et al 2012). The concept originated as an outgrowth of the Subterrene project in the late 1960s (Smith 1995). The project at Fenton Hill began in 1972.The project terminated at the end of 1995, and in 1996 the project wells were plugged and the site was decommissioned.…”

“…A conceptual model has emerged (Brown 1989 and of two sets of intersecting joints, one at an inclination to the least principal stress, inflated at pressures exceeding the joint opening pressure. A model consisting of fractures failed in shear with accompanying tensile cracks that join the fractures to form planar zones has been recently proposed by Jung (2013) The potential for extracting usable energy from the earth's heat has attracted researchers for several centuries (Smith, 1995). Lord Kelvin in a paper read at the Royal Society of Edinburgh drew attention to natural heat as a source of power in 1852 (Thomson 1852).…”

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

“…(1970)(1971)(1972)(1973) The genesis of the idea of "hot dry rock geothermal energy" belongs to Bob Potter, then a chemist at LANL. [36][37] In 1970, Potter formalized this new geothermal energy concept in a laboratory report on a new type of rock-melting drill. 38 According to Potter's concept, the heat contained in a previously tight region of hot basement rock could be accessed through the use of hydraulic pressure to create a very large, vertical "hydraulic fracture."…”