Bj Iturrieta – Utah FORGE

Geothermal Webinar Series V1

Introduction to Fervo Energy - a next-generation

geothermal development company

Fervo is applying proven technologies from the unconventional oil and gas sector, such as horizontal drilling, multistage completions, and fiber optic diagnostics, to improve reservoir performance and lower the cost of geothermal energy. Over the last several years, we have deployed our technology at the field-scale through multiple pilot projects, including a commercial-scale demonstration project in northern Nevada. In this talk, I will review some of the key results from these field trials, and I will discuss opportunities for transferring technology innovations and lessons learned between the geothermal industry and the Utah FORGE project. In addition, I will highlight several recent trends in western US power markets that are driving tremendous growth opportunities for the geothermal industry.

Tuesday October 11 at 9:30 am Mountain time. Registration required.

Please welcome our inaugural speaker Jack Norbeck of Fervo Energy.

Dr. Jack Norbeck is the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Fervo Energy, where he leads exploration and production activities. He is a geothermal reservoir engineer, with a focus on numerical reservoir simulation, geomechanics, and induced seismicity. Prior to Fervo Energy, Dr. Norbeck was a Mendehall Postdoctoral Fellow at the US Geological Survey. He holds a BS degree in civil engineering from University of Colorado, a MS degree in civil engineering from Colorado School of Mines, and a PhD degree in energy resources engineering from Stanford University. He was President of the SPE Student Chapter at Stanford University from 2014-2015.

Geothermal Design Challenge

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO), in partnership with the Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE) and the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), invites both high school and university (undergraduate & graduate) teams to explore the future of geothermal energy and visualize the world of geothermal energy by participating in the 2019 Geothermal Data Visualization Design Challenge. Teams of 2 or 3 members will research data, interpret information and create a data visualization portfolio that will tell a compelling story about geothermal energy.

Geothermal Design Challenge^TM begins January 7

DOE: Our First Partner

The Department of Energy is our first and main partner.

U Gets $140M for Geothermal Research

Following a three-year, five-way competitive process, the U.S. Department of Energy has selected the Energy and Geosciences Institute (EGI) at the University of Utah to develop a geothermal laboratory near Milford, Utah. The laboratory, called Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE) will focus on developing enhanced geothermal systems which could greatly expand the nation’s capacity to produce geothermal energy. The FORGE award will consist of up to $140 million over five years.

“We thank the U.S. Department of Energy for this exceptional opportunity,” said John McLennan, co-principal investigator of Utah’s FORGE team. “Having this research program in Utah would not have been possible without the support and encouragement of Utah Governor Herbert; Dr. Laura Nelson, the Governor’s Energy Advisor; the Office of Energy Development; the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration; and the Utah congressional delegation in Washington. We appreciate the assistance that we have received from State representatives and from Beaver County and from Milford. At the University, strong support has come from the President of the University and the central administration as well as from the College of Engineering and the Energy & Geoscience Institute.”

“Utah is proud to provide national leadership in advancing energy innovation that will help drive affordable, baseload, renewable power to market,” said Gov. Gary R. Herbert, in a statement from the Governor’s Office of Energy Development. “This will put Utah on the map as a world leader for geothermal research as well as expand geothermal production here in rural Utah and throughout the world.”

“The University of Utah is grateful for Senator Orrin Hatch’s leadership and his tireless efforts to advance important scientific research,” said University of Utah President Ruth Watkins, in a statement from Hatch’s office. “Because of his efforts to help secure this FORGE grant, the University of Utah will continue to lead the Nation as the preeminent institution for researching the commercial production of geothermal energy.”

The FORGE project involves drilling two 8,000-ft long wells in an area north of Milford, Beaver County, Utah. Cold water will be pumped into one well and heated by the rocks as it circulates, then will be pumped out of a second well. After the heat is extracted at the surface, the cooled, circulated water will be cycled back into the first well. The laboratory will use non-potable groundwater that cannot be used for agriculture or human consumption.

Currently, geothermal power plants need two things: hot rocks at depth, which can be found practically anywhere on the planet, and hot groundwater that can be extracted at the surface. Enhanced geothermal systems like FORGE could create their own hot groundwater, making it possible to place a geothermal power plant nearly anywhere.

Read the U.S. Department of Energy press release here.

Additional Media Coverage:

Read the release from the Governor’s Office of Energy Development here.
Find U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch’s statement here.
Read more about the project at forgeutah.com or here.
Salt Lake City Tribune Article.
KSL TV/Radio Article.
ThinkGeoEngery.com Article.

The Forgotten Renewable

NPR All Things Considered special on the FORGE project entitled 'The Forgotten Renewable: Geothermal Energy Production Heats Up'.
Three and a half hours east of Los Angeles lies the Salton Sea, a manmade oasis in the heart of the Mojave Desert. It was created in 1905, when a canal broke and the Colorado River flooded the desert for more than a year. The Sea became a tourist hotspot in the 1950's, perfect for swimming, boating, and kayaking. But now, people are coming here looking for something else.

Jim Turner is the chief operating officer of Controlled Thermal Resources, an energy company from Australia. On a hill overlooking the Salton Sea, he points out a patch of land that will someday house his company's first power plant, named Hell's Kitchen.

"We're standing on top of what is probably the most robust geothermal resource in the United States," he explains.

Geothermal energy uses the earth's natural heat to create electricity. While there are several different ways to accomplish this, the most common is to take super-heated water from geothermal hot spots and pipe it to the surface. It then turns into steam and spins a turbine, which generates electricity.

It's completely renewable, and generates clean energy around the clock, unlike wind and solar.

"You think of renewable energy as a house, solar is the roof and the wind is the walls," says Jason Czapla, principal engineer for Controlled Thermal Resources. "But geothermal's the foundation, and what California did is it built the walls and the roof, but on wild, windy days it blows too much rain on the roof [and] that house falls down. Well, the Salton Sea is this opportunity for California to fix that."

The company wants to develop 1,000 megawatts of electricity here over the next decade. They say that could power about 800,000 homes. And for a state that's aiming to get half its electricity from renewable sources, that's no small number.

"Our development coincides with the state's target, 2030 being the ultimate goal getting to 50 percent," says Czapla. "And our goal is to build up that 1,000 megawatts and help them increase the renewable energy portfolio."

To read the full NPR story, click here.

Seismic Surveys Completed

Last week the Utah FORGE project completed a two- and three-dimensional seismic surveys to further characterize the project area’s buried granite reservoir. Specifically, the survey may help to identify any buried faults that might be zones of fluid flow.

Seismic surveys create subsurface images by generating, recording, and analyzing sound waves that travel through the Earth (such waves are also called seismic waves). Density changes between rock or soil layers reflect the waves back to the surface, and how quickly and strongly the waves are reflected back indicates what lies below.

For the Utah FORGE survey, vehicle-mounted vibrator plates (called vibroseis trucks) generated the source waves and a grid of geophones recorded them. The survey included two 2D surveys that were 2.5 miles long and included approximately 160 source points and geophone receivers each, and a 3D survey that covered 7 square miles and included 1,100 source points and 1,700 geophone receivers. The data is now being processed to generate a three-dimensional map of the subsurface reservoir.

For more a more information on seismic surveys see https://geology.utah.gov/map-pub/survey-notes/glad-you-asked/what-are-seismic-surveys/

More information is also found on this page of the UGS Blog.

Watch this youtube video to see how it's done.