News
Sep 09, 2009Making Geothermal More Productive
SALT LAKE CITY, Sept. 8, 2009 – University of Utah researchers will inject cool water and pressurized water into a “dry” geothermal well during a five-year, $10.2 million study aimed at boosting the productivity of geothermal power plants and making them feasible nationwide.
“Using these techniques to increase pathways in the rock for hot water and steam would increase availability of geothermal energy across the country,” says geologist Ray Levey, director of the Energy & Geoscience Institute (EGI), which is part of the university’s College of Engineering.
EGI geologist Joe Moore – who will head the research effort at U.S. Geothermal Inc.‘s Raft River power plant in southeast Idaho – says most geothermal power in the United States now is produced west of the Rocky Mountains, where hot rocks are found closest to the surface.
“Hot rock is present across the United States, but new methods have to be developed to use the heat in these rocks to produce geothermal power,” says Moore. “We want to use oil and gas industry techniques to create pathways in the rock so that we can use the heat in the rocks to generate electricity.”
“There’s incredible potential in Utah and other states for geothermal development,” he adds. “Engineered geothermal systems [in which water is injected to enhance natural cracks in the rock] could provide a means of developing these resources much faster.”
The U.S. Department of Energy on Sept. 4 signed an agreement with the University of Utah and EGI to pay almost $7.4 million of the project’s cost.
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