DOE OSTI · 1971613
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2023-02-14. What is Geotherrmal?. https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1971613
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The INnovative Geothermal Exploration through Novel Investigations Of Undiscovered Systems (INGENIOUS) project aims to discover new, economically viable hidden geothermal systems in the Great Basin region by building on previous work in play fairway analysis and machine learning. A key objective of this project is to develop an exploration workflow to reduce geothermal exploration risks for hidden geothermal systems. A single preliminary play fairway workflow was developed from the assessment of the regional INGENIOUS geological, geophysical, and geochemical datasets. This workflow provided new preliminary predictive geothermal fairway maps for the INGENIOUS study area, which encompasses most of Nevada, western Utah, southern Idaho, southeastern Oregon, and easternmost California. However, a recent study (incorporating machine learning techniques) of a portion of Nevada identified four geologic domains and determined that the relative importance of individual datasets or features as indicators of geothermal potential may differ across these domains. The INGENIOUS study area includes a much larger and more geologically diverse region; therefore, additional geologic domains or sub-regions are expected. To assess the sub-regions in the INGENIOUS study area, principal component analysis and k-means clustering were applied. Preliminary results indicate that the INGENIOUS regional data cluster into groups that relate to different geologic domains in the Great Basin region. These include domains such as the Walker Lane, extensional western Great Basin region, broad lower strain region in the eastern Great Basin of western Utah and eastern Nevada, Quaternary volcanic fields, and the area adjacent to the Snake River Plain. These clusters are assessed to determine the key geologic drivers of the identified clusters. Understanding this variability can provide key insights for the exploration and characterization of hidden geothermal systems in the Great Basin region and could indicate the need to develop multiple geothermal conceptual models and play fairway workflows for the INGENIOUS study area.
Between 1913 and 1958, Italy was the only country with an operational geothermal power plant until New Zealand installed its first plant in 1958. At present, 24 countries are involved in the geothermal power market, and they have a combined installed capacity of 16,127 GW. This study analyzes the historical patterns of geothermal power capacity in the world and in individual countries to investigate the ideal global geothermal development pattern by examining the annual cumulative capacity (ACC) and the annual capacity addition (ACA) graphs of the historical development of geothermal power capacity in 24 countries. First, the global patterns are analyzed using these graphs in five periods (1945-1957, 1958-1976, 1977-1991, 1992-2002, and 2003-2020) that are marked by a series of characteristics of ACA peaks separated by two major troughs. Then, five characteristic patterns are developed in five periods globally. These patterns correspond to the early-stage linear, the first acceleration, the first steady-state linear, the second acceleration, and the second steady-state linear developments. A positive relationship exists between global patterns and the 5-year shifted oil-price curve: two major factors influenced global development: 1) increasing oil prices and increasing awareness of global climate change, and 2) global development of geothermal power. Last, we investigate these patterns in each country. The top ten countries, which comprise 93.3% of the world's total installed capacity are separated into five groups based on the availability and characteristics of patterns globally developed in five periods. Group-1 (the United States) has an installed capacity of 3,794 MW, Group-2 (Mexico and Philippines) 963-1935 MW, Group-3 (New Zealand, Italy, Iceland, and Japan) 601-1,037 MW, and Group-4 (Indonesia, Kenya, and Turkiye) 944-2,356 MW. The remaining 14 countries (6.7%), which are called Group 5, are still in an immature stage and have installed capacities of 7-262 MW and are not involved in pattern analysis. Overall, geothermal power in the world is in its third stage of development, which had its peak development after 1977. A fourth development peak may be expected to occur after this through business-as-usual cases. The biggest barrier to the development of the global geothermal power market is the risk associated with exploration and drilling. If risk mitigation systems and funds are employed, the growth of geothermal power production projects could accelerate.
Oil and gas (O&G) wells often encounter co-produced hot water, possibly suitable for geothermal direct-use applications. The City of Tuttle is located on the eastern part of the Anadarko sedimentary basin in Oklahoma with high heat-in-place potential and recovery capability at depth. This study aims at demonstrating the potential of geothermal energy production for direct-use applications in two public schools and 250 nearby houses in Tuttle via repurposing existing O&G wells. In this scope, geochemistry, geology, and borehole log data were collected and incorporated into a 3D conceptual subsurface model. A digital elevation model (DEM) was used to represent the study area topography with four O&G wells. In addition, hydrogeochemical characteristics of the geothermal fluid and scaling potential were analyzed using ternary diagrams and chemical ratios to develop mixing models. The subsurface geology model indicated that the study area primarily consists of Permian to Mississippian Sandstone and Limestone formations, implying a porosity ranging between 12% and 22%, and a permeability up to 3.90E-14 m2 in certain reservoir levels. The reservoir temperature is expected to be ranging between 80 degrees C to 95 degrees C around 3 km depth with an average temperature gradient of 22.8 degrees C/km. Chemical geothermometers also estimated the reservoir temperature as 90 degrees C. Findings of the chemical model demonstrated that the geothermal fluid is Sodium-Potassium-Chloride-Sulfate type and possibly mixed with shallow groundwater resulting in higher Ca and Mg concentrations and lower Na/K ratio implying lower calcite scaling. These results comprehensively characterize the potential of geothermal resources in the study area and imply that geothermal energy production by repurposing existing O&G wells is suitable for low-temperature direct-use applications.