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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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Utah FORGE: Optimization of a Plug-and-Perf Stimulation (Fervo Energy)

Information around the plug-and-perf treatment design at Utah FORGE by Fervo Energy. Objective and Purpose: - Develop a multistage hydraulic stimulation approach designed specifically to target the top three factors that control the technical and commercial viability of an EGS system: i) Achieving sufficient injectivity to support high cross-well flow rates ii) Distributing flow evenly across the wellbore and reservoir to maximize heat mining efficiency, ensure sustained heat transfer, and mitigate thermal breakthrough iii) Overcoming the effects of stress heterogeneity, stress shadowing, and variations in natural fracture properties during the stimulation treatment, leading to a more predictable stimulated reservoir volume and offset well placement - The following activities will be performed: i) Design, plan, and execute a multistage plug-and-perf stimulation treatment at a Fervo site with data acquisition and well testing activities aimed at addressing key technical aspects of the issues above ii) Perform data processing and interpretation of field results to translate the results form the Fervo site to a site-specific design at the Utah FORGE site iii) Design, plan, and execute a multistage plug-and-perf stimulation treatment design at the Utah FORGE site Methods and Approach: - Design a detailed data acquisition plan to maximize learning around: i) DFIT testing ii) Petrophysical logging, image logging iii) Permanent DAS/DTS fiber optic monitoring iv) Deep borehole microseismic monitoring v) Shallow borehole induced seismicity monitoring vi) Injection/production testing (RTA analysis, tracer testing) vii) Integrated numerical modeling and production forecasting

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

Utah FORGE: Reports on Northwestern Nevada Well Doublet Drilling and Testing by Fervo Energy

These reports review Fervo Energy's construction of a commercial enhanced geothermal system (EGS). Fervo has qualified full functionality of the system through production testing at commercially relevant operating conditions. The project site is located in a nearfield setting adjacent to an operating geothermal power station in north-central Nevada and is designed to deliver an uplift in high-temperature geothermal flow rates to increase the power capacity at the facility. The project involved drilling a first-of-a-kind EGS horizontal doublet well system consisting of an injection and production well pair within a high-temperature hard-rock geothermal formation. The lithology of the target reservoir is characterized as a mixed metasedimentary and igneous formation, comprised of phyllite, quartzite, diorite, and granodiorite, representative of the geology across the most prospective geothermal areas throughout the western US. This work included a 16-stage plug-and-perforate stimulation treatment which was the first of its kind in a high-temperature mixed metasedimentary and granitic formation in a fully horizontal doublet geothermal well.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

Cape EGS: Frisco 2-P Well Stimulation Microseismic Data

This dataset contains microseismic data acquired during the Frisco 2-P well stimulation project led by Fervo Energy, conducted between June 1 and June 11, 2024, near the Utah FORGE geothermal site. The microseismic data was collected from various Utah FORGE wells: via Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) fiber in 16B, and three 3-component geophones located in wells 56-32, 78B, and 32. The dataset is structured in SEGY format, where the first nine traces represent data from the geophones, and the remaining traces capture DAS data from well 16B. Each SEGY file in this dataset contains triggered microseismic events, with event initiation based on Short-Time Average over Long-Time Average (STA/LTA) detection criteria during the stimulation process. Files are grouped by time intervals and named following the structure "[WellPad][WellName][Month]_[Year]Divine_Trigger[EventNumber].sgy," indicating well pad, well name, date, and event number. Sampling parameters include a spatial sampling of approximately 2 meters for DAS channels and a temporal sampling rate of 2000 Hz, with each data record spanning 1.2 seconds. The files' coordinates are referenced to the location of the FORGE 16A-32 wellhead, positioned at UTM coordinates: Easting 334641.1891 m and Northing 4263443.693 m. The geographic coordinates for this origin are 38.50402147 latitude and -112.8963897 longitude, with an elevation of 1650.0249 meters above sea level.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

FervoFlex: Long duration in-reservoir energy storage and load-following, dispatchable geothermal generation

Fervo recently achieved a groundbreaking milestone with the successful completion of its pioneering commercial geothermal project in Northern Nevada. This project is partially supported by the ARPA-E OPEN grant, FervoFlex™ technology—a long-duration in-reservoir energy storage and load-following, dispatchable geothermal generation system. Notably, this project marks a significant stride in commercial viability, delivering uninterrupted, 24/7 clean energy to Google data centers in Nevada (Terrell, Michael 2023)

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

Utah FORGE 4-2541: Optimization and Validation of a Plug-and-Perf Stimulation Treatment Design - Workshop Presentation

This is a presentation on the Optimization and Validation of a Plug-and-Perf Stimulation Treatment Design at Utah FORGE project by Fervo Energy, presented by Sireesh Dadi. The project's objective was to develop a multistage hydraulic stimulation approach designed specifically to target the top three factors that control the technical and commercial viability of an EGS system. These factors include: achieving sufficient injectivity to support high cross-well flow rates, distributing flow evenly across the wellbore and reservoir, and overcoming the effects of stress heterogeneity, stress shadowing, and variations in natural fracture properties during the stimulation treatment. This presentation was featured in the Utah FORGE R&D Annual Workshop on September 7, 2023. The workshop provided a valuable opportunity to explore the progress made in each of the 17 Research and Development projects funded under Solicitation 2020-1 which aim to enhance our understanding of the crucial factors influencing the development of Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) reservoirs and resources.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

Cape EGS: Frisco Pad Wells Flow Test Microseismic Data

This dataset contains microseismic data acquired during the Frisco pad flow test project led by Fervo Energy, conducted between July 17th - Aug 12th 2024, near the Utah FORGE geothermal site. The microseismic data was collected from various Utah FORGE wells: via Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) fiber in 16B, and two 3-component geophones located in wells 56-32 and 78B. The dataset is structured in SEGY format, where the first six traces represent data from the geophones, and the remaining traces capture DAS data from well 16B. Each SEGY file in this dataset contains triggered microseismic events, with event initiation based on Short-Time Average over Long-Time Average (STA/LTA) detection criteria during the stimulation process. Files are grouped by time intervals and named following the structure "[WellPad][WellName][Month]_[Year]Divine_Trigger[EventNumber].sgy," indicating well pad, well name, date, and event number. Sampling parameters include a spatial sampling of approximately 2 meters for DAS channels and a temporal sampling rate of 2000 Hz, with each data record spanning 1.2 seconds. The files' coordinates are referenced to the location of the FORGE 16A-32 wellhead, positioned at UTM coordinates: Easting 334641.1891 m and Northing 4263443.693 m. The geographic coordinates for this origin are 38.50402147 latitude and -112.8963897 longitude, with an elevation of 1650.0249 meters above sea level.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

Shallow Geothermal Resources for Cooling Applications at the University of Hawai'i

Drilling activities account for 30% to 57% of the cost to develop and install a geothermal plant. Therefore, an accurate representation of the cost to drill a well is paramount in techno-economic analysis to determine the feasibility of a geothermal power project. In 2022, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) endeavored to revise the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) GeoVision baseline drilling cost curves due to extensive improvement in drilling rates at the Utah Frontier Observatory Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE) demonstration site. That effort did not culminate in the recommendation of new curves because the actual project costs did not match the reported performance improvements and were at or above the GeoVision baseline. The need for another iteration of this analysis has arisen from industry record drilling performance reported by recent commercial field-scale and demonstration projects, including Fervo Energy's Cape Station, the Utah FORGE 16B(78)-32 demonstration and the Geysers Power Company's GDC-36 demonstration. Therefore, in this work, we have estimated the resulting industry average rate of penetration (ROP) and bit life and applied these parameters as inputs to the Well Cost Simplified model used in the GeoVision analysis. The resulting revised cost curves show a significant decline from the GeoVision baseline. For vertical wells, the magnitude of cost decline ranges between 12% and 24% while for deviated wells, cost reductions between 18% and 26% are estimated. The revised cost curves are in good agreement with actual cost data and therefore, quantify the economic impact of the utilization of (and advances in) polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) bit technology and the application of physics-based methodologies that optimize mechanical specific energy.

building cooling↗

2025 Geothermal Drilling Cost Curves Update: Preprint

Drilling activities account for 30% to 57% of the cost to develop and install a geothermal plant. Therefore, an accurate representation of the cost to drill a well is paramount in techno-economic analysis to determine the feasibility of a geothermal power project. In 2022, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) endeavored to revise the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) GeoVision baseline drilling cost curves due to extensive improvement in drilling rates at the Utah Frontier Observatory Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE) demonstration site. That effort did not culminate in the recommendation of new curves because the actual project costs did not match the reported performance improvements and were at or above the GeoVision baseline. The need for another iteration of this analysis has arisen from industry record drilling performance reported by recent commercial field-scale and demonstration projects, including Fervo Energy’s Cape Station, the Utah FORGE 16B(78)-32 demonstration and the Geysers Power Company’s GDC-36 demonstration. Therefore, in this work, we have estimated the resulting industry average rate of penetration (ROP) and bit life and applied these parameters as inputs to the Well Cost Simplified model used in the GeoVision analysis. The resulting revised cost curves show a significant decline from the GeoVision baseline. For vertical wells, the magnitude of cost decline ranges between 12% and 24% while for deviated wells, cost reductions between 18% and 26% are estimated. The revised cost curves are in good agreement with actual cost data and therefore, quantify the economic impact of the utilization of (and advances in) polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) bit technology and the application of physics-based methodologies that optimize mechanical specific energy.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

Insights Into Seismicity Associated With Flexibly Operating Enhanced Geothermal System From Real‐Time Distributed Acoustic Sensing

Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) have the capacity to broaden the accessible resource pool for geothermal power generation. Traditionally viewed as a “baseload” resource, their flexible operation might also enable dispatchable load‐following generation and long‐term energy storage, aligning them with the evolving landscape of decarbonized electricity systems. However, increasing permeability and extracting energy during EGS operations can induce microseismic events; for many prior EGS efforts, some associated seismicity has been observed. While energetically beneficial, the flexibility of EGS operations prompts our inquiry into whether new types of operations will yield previously unseen seismicity patterns. We demonstrate the use of distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) with real‐time edge computing to monitor seismicity during a pilot test of a cyclically operated EGS facility at the Blue Mountain geothermal field. Our focus lies in uncovering seismicity insights from the real‐time microseismic catalog, particularly during load‐following dispatchability tests simulating flexible EGS operation. Here, we find that variations in pore pressure consistently correlate with seismicity, and that controlling pressure cycles during flexible operations appears to constrain microseismic activity during subsequent cycles. The spatio‐temporal evolution of microseismic clouds recorded during cyclic injection cycles fits diffusive models over our available observation period. Additionally, seismicity elevation lags behind pore pressure increases, likely due to pressure diffusion to the fracture system boundary. Through real‐time monitoring, we offer novel insights into seismicity associated with flexibly operating EGS. Our findings suggest that leveraging DAS and edge computing can inform EGS operations and help mitigate induced seismicity.

Chamarczuk, Michal [Rice Univ., Houston, TX (Unite↗

ZIPPER: Zonal isolation with plug and perf in enhanced reservoirs (Final Technical Report)

Modern multistage hydraulic stimulation treatments in cased wellbores require an effective method of isolating stages between treatments. A commonly used method in the oil and gas industry, plug and perf, is not currently viable for Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) due to limitations of a critical component of the system – the ball drop (flow through) frac plug. Commercially available ball drop frac plugs do not meet the temperature or wellbore diameter requirements needed for use in EGS stimulations. For example, one particular drillable bridge and frac plug line from a large tool developer is only rated to 175 °C, while another is only available up to casing sizes of 5 ½” and rated up to 204 °C. We developed, prototyped, and field tested an upgraded ball drop frac plug to meet the requirements of EGS stimulations, including high-temperature (225+ °C), differential pressure (6000+ psi), and wellbore diameters ranging from 6 5/8” to 10 5/8”. We focused on designs and materials to optimize drillability, a key cost driver in plug and perf systems. The primary objective was to upgrade a drillable frac plug (currently rated to a temperature of 175°C and a pressure of 10,000 psi in 7” casing) to withstand temperatures of 225+°C. The upgraded frac plug was tested in the laboratory as well as in a field trial at a geothermal field. Engineering design and fabrication of the new plug was completed in 2019. Lab testing, validation, and qualification of the plug was completed in 2020. Ultimately the plug was successfully run during a multistage stimulation treatment in a fully horizontal EGS well in 2022. Prior to this project, a ball-drop, flow-through stimulation plug had never been used in a geothermal well. At the conclusion of this project, three different types of zonal isolation plugs were evaluated under full-scale operating conditions across 16 stimulation treatment stages in a first-of-a-kind EGS project called Project Red. This trial included the newly designed high-temperature, large-diameter plug. The plugs met all of 5 the technical requirements for commercial viability. Project Red has since been fully commissioned and is generating electricity on the Nevada grid - the first EGS project to successfully deliver power to the grid in the US.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗