| Title | Hot Dry Rock in the USA: Where is It Going? |
|---|---|
| Authors | David Duchane |
| Year | 1997 |
| Conference | Japan International Geothermal Symposium |
| Keywords | |
| Abstract | Since its beginning in the early 1970's, the US Hot Dry Rock (HDR) Program has carried out extensive field work at the Fenton Hill HDR pilot facility in northem NM, USA. Over a period of more than 25 years, two engineered reservoirs were created, and the practicality of producing energy from HDR was unambiguously proven. An automated surface plant was operated for a total of 11 months between 1992 and 1995. Consistent energy extraction was achieved during several flow-testing phases. When operating under steady state conditions, no declines in fluid production temperatures were observed, water consumption reached low levels and was continuing to decline, and all other measurements indicated that HDR reservoirs would have long productive lifetimes. In addition, cyclic testing showed the potential for load-following production schedules that could enhance the economic value of HDR energy production. In late 1995. the US Department of Energy (DOE) announced its intention to restructure the US HDR program to work with "private industry and other interested partiesU to address the remaining technical issues, rather than pursuing commercialization of the technology. As this paper is being written, the exact nature of these "remaining technical issues" has yet to be defined. As an initial step in the restructuring process, a group of experts from the Geothermal Energy Association met in December 1995, under the auspices of the DOE, to formulate recommendations on the future course of HDR work in the United States. HDR field activities in the US reached a low point in 1996 with little definitive action on the restructuring process. Reservoir modeling studies at Kansas State University and some technology transfer work continued, but essentially. the only field activities involved the shutdown of the Fenton Hill test site. By the beginning of 1997, most of the geothermal wells at the Fenton Hill site had been plugged and the site assets were in the process of being diverted to non-HDR activities. As of early 1997, proposed, but yet not implemented, DOE actions included soliciting proposals from stakeholders for projects to help advance the state-of-the-art of HDR technology, participation in International Energy Agency-sponsored tasks on HDR, the completion of a final report archiving the Fenton Hill HDR experience, and development of a 5-year plan to achieve unspecified HDR technology improvements. The DOE also indicated that it planned to commission an in-depth review of HDR and that it would transfer field management of US HDR activities to the private sector via a solicitation process, but these measures were also still awaiting action. In the meantime, budgets for federally funded HDR work in the US have continued to decline. On the positive side, several US entrepreneurial organizations are in the process of formulating HDR projects that may go forward with or without federal government participation. |