White House seeks to cut geothermal research funds

From Reuters...

The Bush administration wants to eliminate federal support for geothermal power just as many U.S. states are looking to cut greenhouse gas emissions and raise renewable power output. The move has angered scientists who say there is enough hot water underground to meet all U.S. electricity needs without greenhouse gas emissions.

"[Geothermal] is far from a mature technology." —Roy Mink, former geothermal program director at the U.S. Dept. of Energy

The Department of Energy has not requested funds for geothermal research in our fiscal-year 2008 budget," said Christina Kielich, a spokeswoman for the Department of Energy. "Geothermal is a mature technology. Our focus is on breakthrough energy research and development."

The administration of George W. Bush has made renewable energy a priority as it seeks to wean the United States off foreign oil, but it emphasizes use of biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel for vehicles and nuclear research for electricity. In spite of its enormous potential, the geothermal option for the United States has been largely ignored,' a recent study led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said.

Last year, the DOE requested no funding for geothermal for the 2007 fiscal year, after funding averaged about $26 million over the previous six years, but Congress restored $5 million. This year, the DOE's $24.3 billion budget request includes a 38 percent federal spending increase for nuclear power, but nothing for geothermal.

Advocates say they hope Congress can restore at least $25 million in funding to keep geothermal research on track...

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Technical Papers: Engineered Geothermal Systems

From the 2007 Stanford Workshop on Geothermal Reservoir Engineering...

Q: Are natural hot springs necessary for geothermal power generation?

Technical papers delivered recently at Stanford University (U.S.) reflect the latest thinking about enhanced or engineered geothermal systems, which do not require hot springs or other natural sources of hot water.

Engineered geothermal systems—still in the early stages of development—create an artificial 'reservoir' deep in the earth by infusing hot dry rock with water to generate steam. The captured steam, in turn, drives turbines that yield commercial-grade electricity.

Links to the conference papers are provided in the scrolling directory below.

(1) "The Future of Geothermal Energy: An Assessment of the Energy Supply Potential of Engineered Geothermal Systems (EGS) for the United States" — Tester, Blackwell, Petty, Richards, Moore, Anderson, Livesay, Augustine, DiPippo, Nichols, Veatch, Drake, Toksoz, Baria, Batchelor & Garnish

(2) "Cost of Electricity from Enhanced Geothermal Systems" — Sanyal, Morrow, Butler & Robertson-Tait

(3) "Updated U.S. Geothermal Supply Characterization " — Petty & Porro

(4) "Chemical Stimulation in Near-Wellbore Geothermal Formations: Silica Dissolution in the Presence of Calcite at High Temperature and High pH" — Rose, Xu, Kovac, Mella & Pruess

(5) "Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage in the Fractured London Chalk. a Thermal Injection / Withdrawal Test and Its Interpretation" — Law, Nicholson & Mayo

(6) "Estimation of Mineral Transportation in HDR Circulation Test" — Yanagisawa, Matsunaga & Sugita

(7) "Thermal Modelling of Long Term Circulation of Multi-Well Development at the Cooper Basin Hot Fractured Rock (HFR) Project and Current Proposed Scale-Up Program" — Vörös, Weidler & Wyborn

(8) "An Investigation of the Dixie Valley Geothermal Field, Nevada, Using Temporal Moment Analysis of Tracer Tests" — Reed

(9) "Thermal Characteristics of the Chena Hot Springs Alaska Geothermal System" — Erkan, Holdman, Blackwell & Benoit

(10) "Exploration and Development at Dixie Valley, Nevada: Summary of DOE Studies" — Blackwell, Smith & Richards

(11) "Geothermal Resources at Naval Petroleum Reserve-3 (NPR-3), Wyoming" — Milliken

(12) "Inferring Well-to-Well Connectivity Using Nonparametric Regression on Well Histories" — Horne & Szucs

(13) "Analysis of Well Tests in Afyon Ömer-Gecek Geothermal Field, Turkey" — Onur, Cinar, Aksoy, Serpen & Satman

(14) "Convective Dispersion in a Real Fracture" — Bauget & Fourar

(15) "Well Path Design and Stimulation Treatments at the Geothermal Research Well GTGRSK4/05 in Groß Schönebeck" — Zimmermann, Reinicke, Blöcher, Milsch, Gehrke, Holl, Moeck, Brandt, Saadat & Huenges

(16) "New Well Test Measurement Technique for Low Enthalpy Geothermal Wells" — Serpen & Aksoy

(17) "Reliability of Early Modeling Studies for High-Temperature Reservoirs in Iceland and the Philippines" — Sarmiento & Björnsson

(18) "The Use of Inflow Performance Relationships to Identify Reservoir Response During Production Tests in a Geothermal Well" — Aragón, Suárez, Moya, & Izquierdo

(19) "Chemical Characteristics of the Coso East Flank Hydrothermal Fluids: Implications for the Location and Nature of the Heat Source" — Christenson, Kennedy, Adams, Bjornstad & Buck

(20) "A Study on the Production and Reservoir Performance of Omer-Gecek/Afyon Geothermal Field" — Satman, Onur, Serpen & Aksoy

(21) "Deep Heat Mining in the Austrian Alps - a Prelimenary Look on Possibilities and Limitations" — Salcher & Goetzl

(22) "Use of Rapid Temperature Measurements at a 2-meter Depth to Augment Deeper Temperature Gradient Drilling" — Coolbaugh, Sladek, Faulds, Zehner, & Oppliger

(23) "Geothermal Energy Development along Africa's Rift Valley (no paper)" — Echavarria

(24) "Reservoir Pressure Drawdown and the Alum Lakes, Wairakei" — Newson & O'Sullivan

(25) "Water Injection as a Means for Reducing Non-Condensible and Corrosive Gases in Steam Produced from Vapor-Dominated Reservoirs" — Pruess, Spycher & Kneafsey

(26) "Geomechanical Facies Concept and the Application of Hybrid Numerical and Analytical Techniques for the Description of HTMC Coupled Transport in Fractured Systems" — McDermott, Xie, Kosakowski, Mettier, Moog & Kolditz

(27) "Assessing Uncertainty in Future Pressure Changes Predicted by Lumped-Parameter Models: A Field Application" — Tureyen, Sarak & Onur

(28) "Integrated Dense Array and Transect Mt Surveying at Dixie Valley Geothermal Area, Nevada; Structural Controls, Hydrothermal Alteration and Deep Fluid Sources" — Wannamaker, Doerner & Hasterok

(29) "Streaming Potential Measured for an Intact Rock Sample at Temperatures to 200 C" — Ishido & Matsushima

(30) "Microearthquake Survey at the Buranga Geothermal Prospect, Western Uganda" — Ochmann, Lindenfeld, Barbirye & Stadtler

(31) "Microearthquake Moment Tensors from the Coso Geothermal Area" — Julian, Foulger & Monastero

(32) "Net Power Capacity of Geothermal Wells Versus Reservoir Temperature - a Practical Perspective" — Sanyal, Morrow & Butler

(33) "Experimental Measurement of Two-Phase Relative Permeability in Vertical Fractures" — Speyer, Li & Horne

(34) "Thermodynamic Model for Predicting Interactions of Geothermal Brines with Hydrothermal Aluminum Silicate Minerals" — Moller, Christov & Weare

(35) "Output of Thermal Energy from Mutnovsky Volcano (Kamchatka) and Thermal Feeding of Mutnovsky Hydrothermal System" — Vereina

(36) "Tracer Tests Evaluating Hydraulic Stimulation at Deep Geothermal Reservoirs in Germany" — Ghergut, Sauter, Behrens, Licha, McDermott, Herfort, Rose, Zimmermann, Orzol, Jung, Huenges, Kolditz, Lodemann, Fischer, Wittig, Güthoff & Kühr

(37) "Stress State at Soultz-Sous-Forêts to 5 km Depth from Wellbore Failure and Hydraulic Observations" — Valley & Evans

(38) "Ongoing Resource Assessment of Geothermal Energy from Deep Sedimentary Basins in Texas" — Erdlac, Armour, Lee, Snyder, Sorensen, Matteucci & Horton

(39) "Stress and Pore Pressure Distribution Around a Pressurized, Cooled Crack in Low Permeability Rock" — Ghassemi

(40) "Geologic Setting of the Chena Hot Springs Geothermal System, Alaska " — Kolker, Newberry, Layer, Larsen & Stepp

(41) "The Shallow Hydrothermal System of Long Valley Caldera, California" — Suemnicht, Sorey, Moore & Sullivan

(42) "In Search for Thermal Anomalies in the Coso Geothermal Field (California) Using Remote Sensing and Field Data" — Eneva, Coolbaugh, Bjornstad & Combs

(43) "Discovering a New Buried Geothermal Field Found Using Geological-Geophysical and Geochemical Methods Uchbash-Saphane, Kutahya Western Anatolia, Turkey" — Burçak, Sevim, Hacisalihoglu

(44) "Updated Methods for Estimating Recovery Factors for Geothermal Resources" — Williams

(45) "Numerical Simulation of Tracer Testing Data at the Uenotai Geothermal Field, Japan" — Nakao, Ishido & Takahashi

(46) "Modeling and Forecast of the Exploitation the Pauzhetsky Geothermal Field, Kamchatka, Russia" — Kiryukhin, Asaulova, Rychkova, Obora, Manukhin & Vorozheikina

(47) "Geothermal Brine Invasion in Oil Reservoirs: A 3D Generalization of the Buckley-Leverett Model Using Non-Linear Finite Elements" — Suarez & Samaniego

(48) "Petrophysical Characterization of Carbonate Naturally Fractured Reservoirs for Use in Dual Porosity Simulators" — Pulido, Samaniego, García-Gavito, Galicia-Muñoz & Velez-García

(49) "An Update on Geothermal Energy Potential of Turkey" — Satman, Serpen & Korkmaz

(50) "Triple Porosity Model-Dual Permeability with Transient Diffusivity Hydraulic in Naturally Fractured Reservoirs " — Pulido, Samaniego, Cinco-Ley, Rivera & Galicia

(51) "The Composition Models of Local Materials Additive to Light Weight Cement on HTHP Conditions" — Nur & Dody

(52) "Silica Extraction from Hydrothermal Heat Carrier by Membrane Filters" — Potapov, Parshin, Gorbach, Kashpura, Min & Ermachihin

(53) "Experiments on Silicates and Gels Production with Using of Silica Extracted from Hydrothermal Solution" — Kashpura, Potapov, Turina, Zubaha, Gorbach

(54) "Petrography and Mineral Alteration in Berlín Geothermal Field" — Torio-Henriquez

(55) "Geothermal Resources Exploration and Wellsite Selection with Environmental Considerations Using GIS in Sabalan Geothermal Area, Iran" — Noorollahi, Itoi, Fujii & Tanaka

(56) "Estimation of the Sub-Surface Temperature by Means of Magnetotelluric Sounding" — Spichak, Zakharova, Rybin

(57) "HDR Project Soultz: Hydraulic and Seismic Observations During Stimulation of the 3 Deep Wells by Massive Water Injections" — Tischner, Schindler, Jung & Nami

(58) "Geothermal Potential Site Selection using GIS in Iran" — Yousefi, Ehara & Noorollahi

(59) "Investigation of Salt Precipitation in Geothermal Reservoir Near Sealing Conditions" — Tsypkin & Calore

(60) "Lithostratigraphy of Nigeria-An Overview" — Shitta

(61) "A Prospect Geothermal Potential of an Abandoned Copper Mine" — Tóth & Bobok

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U.S. zero budget for geothermal technology program

From the EERE briefing on the 2008 U.S. Federal Budget...

The Geothermal Technology Program has worked in partnership with industry to establish geothermal energy as an economically competitive contributor to the U.S. energy supply.

Geothermal energy production, a $1.3 billion a year industry, generates electricity or provides heat for direct applications, including aquaculture, crop drying, and district heating, or for use in heat pumps to heat and cool buildings. The technologies developed by this program are providing the Nation with new sources of electricity that are highly reliable and cost competitive and do not add to America’s air pollution or the emission of greenhouse gases. Geothermal electricity generation is not subject to fuel price volatility and supply disruptions from changes in global energy markets.

Priorities are focused on technology development with broadly applicable and more readily accelerated public benefits —EERE

While geothermal energy remains an important regional contributor to the Nation’s energy needs, current EERE priorities are focused on technology development with broadly applicable and more readily accelerated public benefits. Therefore, the Department plans to close out the Geothermal Technologies Program. This closeout decision was based upon a review of EERE program funding priorities – which include a broad spectrum of considerations."

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GEOTHERMAL FEATURE: Heat Rises III

A Superior Idea

At first glance, MIT’s Prof. Jefferson W. Tester was doubtful about the practicality of Atlantic Geothermal’s “heat canal” concept. Once Dr. Tester took a good look at the heat canal idea, however, his skepticism changed. Should the concept prove workable, Tester told Atlantic Geothermal’s founder, David Reynolds, the heat canal approach to enhanced geothermal energy development would offer real advantages to geothermal heat mining.

Let’s be clear on the importance of the Feb. 12 meeting between Tester* and Reynolds. An expression of geniune interest by one of the world’s foremost authorities on geothermal energy can go a long way toward bringing a good idea into the real world of analysis, conclusion and validation. This would be very good for Atlantic Geothermal, of course; but launching a superior geothermal energy production design would be enormously beneficial to a world in desperate need of clean energy sources. It would also, by the way, be very good for the U.S. economy, as well as the quality of the air we breathe, the food we eat and the water we drink.

Prof. Tester agreed that the heat canal looks good on paper. Rather than building multiple enhanced geothermal wells to pump water down into hot rock and extract steam to drive power-generating turbines at each site, the heat canal would draw from a much larger underground field for a much longer period of time — possibly measured in centuries rather than decades for the typical geothermal site. The heat canal, a horizontal bore 50 ft. wide and 80 to 100 miles long, 20,000 ft. below the surface and filled with sea water under pressure, with bore holes extending laterally 7500 ft. into hot rock, would generate an estimated 16 times the energy of the largest conventionally designed enhanced geothermal well, yet all that energy would be extracted from a single site. This design, Prof. Tester said, would significantly increase operating efficiency through a “synergy of systems.”

During their discussion, Tester and Reynolds identified two optional designs for the bore holes that could work with the required efficiency. One option would utilize fracturing of the hot rock area from which heat would be extracted. (Fracturing allows more heat to be extracted, but could multiply any tendency within the site toward geological instability.) The second option would involve drilling a lattice of bore holes and, while more expensive to install, would not require fracturing.

The next step is to have a mathematical analysis of for both options performed by GeothermEx, the big California-based geothermal exploration and development firm. Tester told Reynolds that he would be glad to verify mathematical calculations of heat extraction rates the geothermal canal model. While the sustainability of the heat canal design is being calculated, Atlantic Geothermal will be refining the design concept and trying to get a fix on projected costs. The immediate question is, how many billions of dollars are we talking about?

by Loren Jenks (lorenjenks@charter.net)

*Dr. Tester, the H. P. Meissner Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT, directed the multidisciplinary task force that recently released its major report, “Future of Geothermal Energy: Impact of Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) on tbe United States in the 21st Century.”

Heat Map Shows Great Potential for U.S.

An illustration from the Geothermal Energy Association shows the estimated earth temperatures at a depth of 6 kilometers (about 4 miles). Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius. According to the GEA, existing geothermal power technology can produce electricity from resources at temperatures as low as 90 degrees Celsius.

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'Flabbergasted' About Geothermal in Nashua, NH

Reprinted with permission from The Nashua (New Hampshire) Telegraph.

"At the risk of being one of those people who talks about their vacations all the time (I’m actually one of those people who talks about their kids all the time), I must admit that ever since I visited Iceland last year, I’ve really wanted a geothermal power plant.

That doesn’t mean one of the so-called “geothermal” systems we have around here, which are really heat-exchange systems that use the constant temperature of well water to lower the cost of heating and cooling a building.

I’m talking about real geothermal, which uses extreme heat from underground magma or natural radioactive decay to boil water and send it shooting up through power-producing turbines.

Iceland has lots of that stuff, since it’s located over the joint where the European tectonic plate is separating from the North American plate, so magma is constantly shooting up out of the ground. (Iceland is basically one-third volcanoes, one-third glaciers, and one-third Bjork fans.)

One time, in fact, Iceland had to stop drilling a geothermal well because a volcano erupted right up through the borehole! Is that neat or what?

It’s the only such event in history, as I learned from the video for visitors at the massive Krafla power plant. I writhed with envy when I heard it, because I live in seismically inactive, geologically boring New Hampshire. No subsurface magma here.

"So I was flabbergasted last month when I saw that a much-publicized MIT report urging geothermal energy for the U.S. cited our own Conway as a potential location for a power plant."

In fact, it was the only promising site east of the Mississippi.

“That’s because of all the granite you have. The uranium, thorium and potassium act like a natural nuclear reactor and keep the rock warm,” said Ron DiPippo, a former dean of engineering from UMass-Dartmouth who was on the panel that wrote the report.

In fact, he said in a telephone interview last week, during the 1970s oil shocks a “hot, dry rock” experiment was planned for Conway to determine the suitability of geothermal power, but it never went anywhere.

The new study, titled “The Future of Geothermal Energy,” says the best bet is a more aggressive method that involves pumping water down to subterranean heat sources, so it can shoot back up again and power the turbines. They call it the Enhanced Geothermal System.

Alas, further review of the report shows that Conway is the least promising of the various locations considered by the group, because you’d have to drill down six miles to get enough heat. (By contrast, a deep drilled well goes down barely one-tenth of a mile.)

As a result, the cost estimates put together by the 18-member panel at the urging of the U.S. Department of Energy say power from a Conway geothermal plant could cost two to six times as much as from the other sites it considered, all of which were out West.

“It’s certainly one of the more expensive places to look at,” admitted DiPippo.

But finding cheap power to be tapped in the next few years wasn’t the point of the study. It was designed to highlight the plausibility of geothermal energy in the U.S., so that more research and development will occur and geothermal can be added to the nation’s mix of power sources.

Maybe even in the North Country.

“If we’re talking 40 or 50 years down the road and petroleum is either non-existent or so expensive we have to look for alternatives, then it’s not unreasonable to begin to look at places like Conway,” said DiPippo. “We’ve got to start looking at this now, if we want it to succeed."

Man, I am ready. Could you imagine it: A day of skiing, then taking a dip in a geothermal hot tub?

Eat your heart out, Bjork!"

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Link to the original Nashua Telegraph online publication, February 7, 2007: Geothermal energy is hot topic in U.S. among scientists

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'Acronym Soup' ~ MIT UMass

GEOTHERMAL FEATURE: Heat Rises

Atlantic Geothermal’s Dave Reynolds is not reinventing the wheel; he’s building a coach from spare parts left lying around for years by the oil, gas and mining industries. In other words, as has been said already, the technology exists today to make the United States energy independent, perhaps indefinitely. How? By tapping into the heat that lies beneath our feet. If it’s done right, Reynolds claims, the energy obtainable from hot rocks is sustainable for centuries, does not require burning fossil fuels, will not pollute the environment, runs 24 hours a day seven days a week, can provide an unending supply of fresh water from sea water, and is not only achievable but affordable at today’s energy prices. His argument is compelling.

Sure, there are obstacles to overcome, questions to be answered. For example, how clean is it? Atlantic Geothermal advances a feasible design solution to concerns about mineral pollutants leached from subterranean rock. Could extended development of geothermal energy cause earthquakes? Well, listen folks, what they’re doing now, drilling into fissures between tectonic plates to mine readily available steam, does not fill me with reassurance. Atlantic Geothermal is advancing a project to run steam turbines on heat mined from almost anywhere within 100 miles of the ocean — specifically, New England, which is not considered a hotbed of geothermal capacity, nor of earthquakes.

The landmark MIT report on potential geothermal resources, released January 22, demonstrates with mountains of data that “enhanced geothermal systems” (EGS) can meet up to 10 percent of the nation’s current and projected electricity needs by 2050. This amount would replace the generating capacity that will be lost by the expected retirement of old coal-fired and nuclear generating plants.

Atlantic Geothermal’s visionary project leapfrogs the 30-year continuous operating life expectancies of EGS plants by greatly expanding the hot rock energy field. By drilling an 80- to 100-mile-long, 50-ft.-wide tunnel three miles below the surface, then expanding bore holes 1500 ft. laterally, the project could realize an energy field potentially 3,000 ft. wide and 80 miles long. Reynolds projects that one such system could generate 1600 megawatts of power per hour — 16 times the output of a large conventionally designed EGS plant, and nearly matching the output of Hoover Dam. And, due to the greatly expanded heat reservoir of a field that size, the generating capacity would last indefinitely. Land use concerns? Except for the input and output facilities, the entire system is three miles underground, maintained by hydrostatic pressure.

It bears repeating that the know-how exists today to bring Atlantic Geothermal’s vision of perpetually sustained clean energy into reality. All it takes is political and economic willpower. What are we waiting for?

by Loren Jenks (lorenjenks@charter.net)

Boston Globe: "The power of rocks..."

From the Boston Globe...

"Vast slabs of hot rock, buried miles underground, could provide an energy alternative to coal, gas, and oil -- and do less damage to the environment... "

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See our initial post on the early web logs in the first week following publication of the "Future of Geothermal Energy."

MIT Study: Enormous Potential for Geothermal Power

The U.S. has the capacity to meet 10% of its energy needs from geothermal sources within the next 50 years. This projection is part of a new MIT-led study that outlines the future impact of Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) in the United States.

• Read MIT's announcement or download the full report, "Future of Geothermal Energy" (MIT/DoE, 2007)
• Link to feature on the U.S. Idaho National Laboratory web site.
• Track this story online...Reuters NPR Marketplace New York Times Christian Science Monitor ABC News MSNBC Environmental Leader Renewable Energy Access Innovations Report InsideGreenTech PhysOrg Planet Ark Scientific American ZDNetEarthimes.org Technology Review

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