| Title | Innovative Recharge Heat Recovery Project: Retrieving Steam One Drop at a Time |
|---|---|
| Authors | Irene Marice FERNANDEZ, Marie Hazel URIBE, Katrina DACILLO and Jericho OMAGBON |
| Year | 2024 |
| Conference | Stanford Geothermal Workshop |
| Keywords | superheating, trickle injection, infield reinjection |
| Abstract | The Tongonan Geothermal Field has been providing clean energy to the Philippines for four decades. This long period of production has resulted in pressure drawdown, boiling and deepening of the water level to depths way below the reach of 43% of the wells; thus, constraining their production within the steam zone of the reservoir. The steam zone of the field has also reached the phase of superheating, starting from the areas near the upflow region. In order to adapt to this emerging reservoir process, the Innovative Recharge Heat Recovery (IRHR) program was created for operational sustainability. Trickle injection is one of the key initiatives that has proven to be effective in managing the effects of superheating. Controlled amounts of 10-15kg/s of power plant condensate are injected into shallow, infield wells to generate additional steam via secondary heat extraction and provide pressure support. An alcohol tracer test was also conducted to map out the reach of the trickle injection. |