Utah FORGE Achieves Crucial Geothermal Milestone
The FORGE results were celebrated by Jeff Marootian, the DOE’s principal deputy assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy, as a foundational step toward a clean energy future.
“The ability to tap more of the Earth’s natural heat through enhanced geothermal systems will expand access to affordable, secure and resilient clean energy for everyone,” Marootian said.
For this recent test, FORGE personnel and industry specialists directionally drilled two boreholes—one for injecting water underground and the other for extracting it. The injection well is 10,897 feet long and drops to a depth of 8,559 feet below the surface.
The two wells go straight down for the first 5,000 feet, then bend to a 65-degree angle, running parallel to one another for several thousand feet. The injection well’s non-vertical run lies 300 feet below the production well bore.
Over a two-week period in April, they hydraulically fractured, or “frac’ed,” the wells in 12 stages to create fissures in the hot rock formations that water could pass through.
After fracturing, the crew then conducted the nine-hour circulation test, pumping water at a rate of 13 barrels (542 gallons) a minute down the injection well and monitoring what emerged from the production well.
The results were promising, reaching a point where 70% of the injected water was recovered at a temperature that reached 282 degrees Fahrenheit, according to Moore.
“We see that both the discharge rate and the temperature are continuing to increase and the test was shut off before they fully stabilized,” he said. “So exceptional tests. We have achieved commercial production rates.”
While these results demonstrate a hydraulic connection between the wells, researchers hope to achieve higher flows in future tests. The data are being analyzed to plan additional fieldwork, including a 30-day circulation test in July.
“We speculate, and we’ll see this in the 30-day test, that as we fill the fracture system back up, this number is going to get to where I’m suspecting it’s 85 to 90% efficiency,” McLennan said.
Equally promising was the absence of any noticeable ground shaking associated with the stimulations and circulation test. U seismologists led by geology professor Kris Pankow, associate director of the U of U Seismograph Stations, are overseeing an extensive network of seismometers to document ground movement associated with the project.
Thousands of tiny seismic events were recorded during the recent tests, the largest registering a magnitude of 1.9, Moore said. FORGE has implemented a “traffic-light” system, where testing is interrupted whenever a quake greater than magnitude 2 is detected.
”It was really impactful that we did not have to do that, that we were able to pump these hydraulic fractures without causing problematic seismicity,” McLennan said.
Brian Maffly is science writer and research media specialist at the University of Utah. The article was originally posted to the website of the University of Urah.
