GTP works to ensure the viability of applying EGS technology to the
production of geothermal energy in the United States. GTP partners with
industry in its research and development efforts to verify the
application relevance of geothermal technologies and to enhance
deployment prospects. This technology validation work is being
accomplished through GTP's Field Projects efforts.
A broad knowledge base about reservoir creation and operation will be
essential for eventual application of EGS on a commercial scale. This
knowledge can only be gained by experience from field demonstrations in a
variety of geologic environments reflecting a range of reservoir
conditions. Immediate technology improvements are needed in reservoir
predictive models, zonal isolation tools, monitoring and logging tools,
and submersible pumps.
Technology validation activities move geothermal technologies from
research and development to a level where the technologies are accepted
and actively used and applied by the U.S. geothermal industry and other
stakeholders. All development components of geothermal exploration, EGS,
drilling, and energy conversion must be applied in a field environment
to demonstrate improvements in geothermal technology performance on a
commercial scale.
Key Field Project Activities
Current work is active in, or planned for the following areas:
System Demonstrations
Utilization of industry cost-shared projects at and near producing
geothermal fields in order to avoid the cost associated with surface
development and increase the immediacy of economic benefits.
Validation
Enabling market transformation and commercialization of the tools and
processes being developed in the research and development community.
Current Field Projects
In partnership with industry, academia, and other stakeholders, GTP
has initiated field demonstration projects to validate the stimulation
techniques for inter-well connectivity at existing geothermal fields.
These projects will use available technologies from geothermal, oil and
gas, and other relevant sectors. This approach directly benefits
hydrothermal field developers and successful stimulation techniques
offer the ability to make a previously unproductive well commercially
productive.
