A team has converged on Brady Hot Springs in Nevada with a combination of satellite imaging techniques and fiber-optic cable. The researchers have turned this relatively small geothermal field into a proving ground for a system that ideally can be scaled up in wider and deeper fields.
The project’s scope spans from fundamental geoscience to maximizing the production of electricity from geothermal wells. Geoscience Professor Kurt Feigl says there’s still a great deal to be learned about fractures and deformation in rocks. This information will in turn help DOE and industry partners Silixa and Ormat Technologies follow the hot water through a complex underground landscape—and pursue the long-term goal of commercializing EGS more broadly.
The information will also help industry develop enhanced geothermal systems (EGS), man-made geothermal wells created by injecting additional fluid into naturally heated rock areas that are not already saturated with fluid. This process opens up existing fractures in the rock, allowing the water to circulate through the area and transport the geothermal heat so that it can be converted into electricity.
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