Volcano Power In USA Underway

Newberry Enhanced Geothermal Systems Demonstration reports they have got both pumps running at full capability and brought the well head pressure up to 1800 psi. Shortly afterwards, two microseismic events with magnitudes close to zero occurred near the bottom of the bore hole.

 

 In addition, the permeability increased slightly. This means that hydroshearing and creation of an EGS reservoir has begun! As we continue to slowly increase the rpm’s of the pumps, we anticipate many more microseismic events over the next week.

 

The map shows the locations (red dots) of the events in relation to the geothermal well’s surface location and five of our closest monitoring stations.

 

The Newberry Volcano Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) Demonstration is being conducted in the Deschutes National Forest in central Oregon. EGS technology has the potential to greatly increase geothermal power generation in the U.S. and around the world. Geothermal systems provide a source of renewable, baseload power generation that’s environmentally friendly, and generates tax revenue and family-wage jobs at home that can help ensure our national energy independence. EGS is the future of geothermal energy.

 

The purpose of the Newberry EGS demonstration is to demonstrate AltaRock’s new technology designed to lower the cost of EGS, and thus allow economic extraction of heat from the earth in locations where high temperatures can be reached by conventional drilling techniques but there is no natural circulating geothermal system. Marking a key milestone in Phase II of the EGS Demonstration, an advanced micro-seismic array has been installed, tested, and operations approved by seismologists from two national labs. 

 

The next step includes the injecting of water into an existing hot well to create multiple reservoirs of connected cracks 6,500-10,000 feet below ground. Groundwater levels and quality will be monitored before, during and after stimulation. Once the EGS reservoirs are created this fall, production wells will be drilled to intersect the stimulated fractures and flow tests will be conducted to evaluate the potential for using the EGS reservoirs as heat exchangers to produce electricity in the future. Phase II microseismicity will be available for viewing on the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory website. Phase II of the project, including drilling of production wells, is expected to be completed by 2014.

“The economic implications of the Newberry EGS Demonstration are quite significant,” said Susan Petty, president and founder of AltaRock Energy. “Creating multiple geothermal reservoirs from a single injection well multiplies the amount of energy that can be extracted from each production well. Not only do multiple reservoirs extend the life of the well and increase the energy recovery from each well, they significantly improve the economics of EGS power generation. This could allow geothermal to translate into a comprehensive source of renewable energy for the future.”

 

Located in the Deschutes National Forest in central Oregon, the Newberry project will demonstrate that EGS is an economically viable source of broad-scale 24/7 baseload renewable energy. As recently determined by the BLM and the U.S. Department of Energy through a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI), the project has met the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and will not significantly affect the quality of the human or natural environment.

The first phase of the Newberry EGS Project involving planning for the well stimulation, environmental studies and public outreach, reached completion earlier this year. Key participants with Davenport Newberry and AltaRock energy on the project include federal agencies (Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, and Dept. of Energy), state agencies (Oregon Depts. of Geology and Mineral Industries, Environmental Quality, and Water Resources), government scientific labs (US Geological Survey and Lawrence Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, and Sandia National Laboratories), universities (Oregon State, Temple, and Texas A&M).

 

As is typical of many media outlets, the headlines are designed to be provocative and grab your attention. If you read or listen to these stories, you will find that the authors have no evidence to support any claim that our project is unsafe.

The companies make three simple points:

1. AltaRock Energy is not drilling into a volcano. The well on Newberry was drilled in 2008 to a depth of over 10,000 ft about 5 miles from the most recent volcanic flows. We are pumping cold water into this non-producing geothermal well in an attempt to prove new technology for Enhanced Geothermal Systems developed by AltaRock and many others, and eventually generate renewable energy in central Oregon. We did drill five seismic monitoring boreholes to depths of 700-900 feet, but the temperatures at the bottom of those wells is cold (55F) and their purpose is monitoring not geothermal production.

2. Drilling into volcanoes is not dangerous or uncommon. Worldwide geothermal energy production often occurs on volcanoes. The Philippines, Iceland, and El Salvador all produce over 20% of their electricity from the geothermal heat of volcanoes. Geothermal drilling or production has never been responsible for a volcanic eruption. Read more in FAQ#8.

3. We aren’t “fracking.” Hydraulic fracturing is a process used in the oil and gas industry that uses surface water pressures over 5,000 psi to fracture or crack open the rock to extract oil and gas. We are using a different process called hydroshearing to initiate small slips in existing cracks in the rock. We expect surface pressures around 1,600 psi will initiate hydroshearing, or slip on existing fractures — far less than needed to fracture the rock. Further, hydroshearing does not require injection of the chemical additives used in fracking. Lastly, we will not be producing fossil fuels, but hot water and steam heated by the hot rock under Newberry Volcano. Read morehere and in FAQ#1

 

The project will demonstrate EGS power generation from the Newberry Known Geothermal Resource Area (“Newberry”). Four deep, high temperature, very low permeability, production-size wells have been completed at Newberry, including two currently owned by Davenport. The Newberry project site exemplifies unparalleled EGS potential in the United States, with a large, high-temperature, conductive thermal anomaly yielding wells with permeability orders of magnitude less than conventional hydrothermal wells.

The Newberry Volcano EGS Demonstration will allow geothermal industry and academic experts to develop, validate and enhance geoscience and engineering techniques and procedures that are essential to the expansion of EGS throughout the country. Successful development and long-term power generation will demonstrate to the American public that EGS can play a significant role in reducing foreign energy dependence, and provide the first indigenous source of geothermal power to the State of Oregon.

Demonstrate the development and operation of an Engineered Geothermal System (EGS), including site and resource investigation, well drilling and completion, stimulation of wells to create a geothermal reservoir, testing of well productivity and assessment of reservoir characteristics, construction of an EGS wellfield and power plant, and extended operation and monitoring of the constructed facility with continuous power generation over the 30-year design life of the plant.

The AltaRock-assembled team will characterize the Newberry resource using available data and a wide array of conventional and innovative EGS geoscience and reservoir engineering techniques to select the best existing well for stimulation. A seismic array will be deployed and a risk analysis will be completed. A conventional injection test will be conducted to quantify injectivity and ensure well bore competency. Additional logging operations, including an experimental borehole televiewer, will be completed to characterize the formation, inherent stress regime and the presence of natural fractures. Assembly of 3-D thermo-hydro-mechanical-chemical and stimulation models will aid in reservoir design and stimulation planning, and reservoir characterization through project completion.

The selected well will be stimulated using experimental hydraulic, mechanical and chemical techniques, aided by innovative zonal isolation methods, conducted with and without the use of a drill rig. The resulting EGS reservoir will be mapped using microseismic methods to delineate production well targets and elucidate reservoir geometry. Production wells will be drilled into the EGS fracture network, then tested and stimulated, as necessary, to enhance connectivity with the injection well. Several reservoir tracer compounds will be injected into the reservoir, and extensive geochemical sampling and analysis will be conducted to characterize fluid pathways and travel times. An extended flow test involving all three wells will be completed, with test results used to numerically model and forecast long-term reservoir performance. Initial reservoir development will be followed by the design, construction and operation of a power generation facility to assess and validate long-term fluid flow and heat extraction rates from the EGS reservoir for the 30-year design life of the plant.

The Newberry Volcano EGS Demonstration will allow geothermal industry and academic experts to develop, validate and enhance geoscience and engineering techniques and procedures that are essential to the expansion of EGS throughout the country.After an extended flow test and thorough characterization of reservoir and well performance, a production facility and power plant capable of generating no less than 15 MWe will be constructed and operated for the 30- year design life of the plant to monitor and prove long-term reservoir performance. Successful development and long-term power generation will demonstrate to the American public that EGS can play a significant role in reducing foreign energy dependence, and provide the first indigenous source of geothermal power to the State of Oregon.