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Projects: Geothermal Systems

Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) Induced Seismicity

Induced seismicity associated with energy production and waste disposal will become an increasingly important issue (geothermal, CO2 sequestration, and oil and gas, etc.) as energy production in a climate-constrained earth progresses. Although induced seismicity has been noted for many years and associated with a variety of causes, recent attention has been focused on oil and gas, geothermal, and potential CO2 sequestration sites...

The EGS Collab Project: Stimulation Investigations for Geothermal Modeling Analysis and Validation

The EGS Collab Project is addressing fundamental challenges in understanding the relationship between permeability creation, induced seismicity, and heat production in crystalline rocks under relevant stress (and temperature) conditions for Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS)...

Pat Dobson
Funded by DOE-EERE-GTO-Geothermal Energy Office

Comprehensive Physical-Chemical Modeling to Reduce Risks and Costs of Flexible Geothermal Energy Production (CEC-EPIC)

The Issue: The increased use of variable renewable energy (primarily wind and solar) increases the inherent variability and uncertainty in electricity demand and resource availability, and thus drives the need for operational flexibility of other renewable such as geothermal energy...

Funded by California Energy Commission (CEC)

High-Resolution Imaging of Geothermal Flow Paths Using a Cost-Effective Dense Seismic Network (CEC-EPIC)

Objective: Develop an advanced, low-cost, automated tomographic imaging system that uses micro-earthquakes and a dense network of portable, low-cost seismic sensors to form high spatial and temporal resolution images of subsurface fluid flow, including flow conduits, barriers and heterogeneity in producing geothermal fields...

Funded by California Energy Commission (CEC)

Dynamic Earth Energy Storage: Terawatt-Year, Grid-Scale Energy Storage using Planet Earth as a Thermal Battery

This project is a collaborative project led by INL that addresses the concept of energy storage that would involve converting excess electrical energy to heat and storing it geologically in deep saline aquifers. Additionally, available/excess thermal energy (from thermal generation sources) can be directly stored geologically with minimal processing. Stored heat can then be withdrawn at a later time to be used directly (as process heat for industrial applications) or indirectly (electrical generation).

Pat Dobson
Funded by DOE-EERE-GTO-Geothermal Energy Office

Imperial Valley Dark Fiber Project

This project seeks to explore the use of fiber optic sensing, particularly distributed acoustic sensing (DAS), to seismically characterize geothermal systems at the basin scale in California’s Imperial Valley.

Pat Dobson
Funded by DOE-EERE-GTO-Geothermal Energy Office

Geo-TES Project

The Geologic Thermal Energy Storage (GeoTES) Project involves three main components: (1) Convert excess electricity to hot water and pump it into a deep sedimentary reservoir, (2) Store the thermal energy in the subsurface, and (3) When needed, recover hot water for energy generation or direct use applications.

Nicolas Spycher
Pat Dobson
Funded by DOE-EERE-GTO-Geothermal Energy Office