Research News

Utah FORGE Drills Geothermal Production Well. Second deep deviated well in doublet pair. A highly deviated well drilled in hard, hot crystalline granite – will mirror previously drilled injection well. Total length of the well will be approximately 10,700 feet.   SALT LAKE CITY, UT., 26 April, 2023 - The Utah Frontier Observatory for Research…Read More »

Announcing SSA session De-risking Deep Geothermal Projects: Geophysical Monitoring and Forecast Modeling Advances Co-conveners: Federica Lanza, Kristine Pankow, David Eaton, Nori Nakata, Ryan Schulz, Annemarie Mutendam-Bos We seek contributions from EGS projects and field test sites that focus on geophysical technologies applied to geothermal energy, such as real-time monitoring and characterization of induced seismicity, distributed…Read More »

Press Release August 15, 2022 University of Utah and Utah FORGE Announce Second Solicitation Solicitation will total up to $44,000,000 Up to 17 awards anticipated A pre-recorded informational webinar will be available on Aug. 23, 2022 Concept Papers are due October 10, 2022, at 2:00 PM MDT SALT LAKE CITY, UT., Aug.15, 2022 - The…Read More »

The Utah FORGE research team has achieved yet another major milestone in advancing enhanced geothermal system technologies with the successful completion of the first large scale 10-day stimulation trial (April 14-24, 2022) in the deep deviated well 16A(78)-32. Three intervals were tested in sequence at greater than 10,000 ft depth, including the open hole at…Read More »

Utah FORGE is excited to announce the successful completion of the three-stage hydraulic stimulation of its first highly deviated injection well, 16A(78)-32. Well 16A(78)-32 drilling was completed in January 2021. This is an inclined well (65°to the vertical) that will be the injection arm of the doublet that forms the heart of the Utah FORGE…Read More »

Utah FORGE Modeling & Simulation Forum #14 "2021 Utah FORGE modeling summary and 2022 look ahead" Presented by: Rob Podgorney (Idaho National Laboratory) January 19 2021 at 11 am MST Look back at the modeling and simulation efforts completed in 2021. Looking ahead into 2022. This is the 14th forum of the series and is…Read More »

This following SSA session will be in person in Bellevue, Washington on 19-23 April 2022: De-risking Deep Geothermal Projects: Geophysical Monitoring and Forecast Modeling Advances Co-conveners: Federica Lanza, Kristine Pankow, Alexandros Savvaidis, Stefan Wiemer, Antonio Pio Rinaldi, Nori Nakata We seek contributions from EGS projects and field test sites that focus on geophysical technologies applied…Read More »

Utah FORGE Modeling & Simulation Forum #7 "An Overview of Modeling and Simulation related to Utah FORGE Research Awards" Presented by: Robert Podgorney (INL) May 19 , 2021 This presentation discussed planned modeling activities from the teams recently announced as selected for award negotiations from the Utah FORGE Solicitation 2020-1. This is the 7th forum…Read More »

Seismic Monitoring Well 56-32 This well is the fourth and deepest of a cluster of vertical seismic monitoring wells that are located near the toe of 16A(78)-32. The well was drilled vertically to a total depth of approximately 9,000 feet about 1300 feet north of 58-32. Well 56-32 will be fully cased (5 ½ inch)…Read More »

Utah FORGE Chooses 17 Selectees to Begin Negotiations: University of Utah to award $46 M for research in Enhanced Geothermal System development 17 selectees chosen to enter negotiations in 5 topic areas SALT LAKE CITY, UT., Feb. 24, 2021 – The Utah Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE) at the University of Utah…Read More »

Drilling Completed!!! Utah FORGE team has successfully completed drilling of its first highly deviated deep well. Drilling was completed 60 days ahead of schedule. The upper part of the well was drilled vertically through approximately 4,700 feet of sediments before penetrating into high strength, crystalline granite. The well was deviated at a 65° angle from…Read More »

Itasca Consulting Group Inc. is a global, employee-owned, engineering consulting and software firm, focusing on geomechanical and hydrogeological projects. 3DEC model of a geothermal site showing shear displacements along existing fractures and synthetic (predicted) microseismicity.   Led by Principal Engineer Dr. Branko Damjanac, the team brings deep experience in solving complex problems in mining, civil,…Read More »

Current Ongoing Progress Updates: The Utah FORGE team has started drilling its first highly deviated deep well. Highly deviated wells are frequently drilled for oil and gas production, but not by the geothermal industry. The Utah FORGE team will be one of the first to tackle this challenge while drilling in hot, hard crystalline granite.Read More »

The Utah Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE), is excited to announce that the drilling of its first highly deviated deep well has commenced. Highly deviated wells are frequently drilled for oil and gas production, but not by the geothermal industry. The Utah FORGE team will be the first to tackle this challenge…Read More »

  Pengju Xing (EGI) gave a talk 'Using Flowback and Temperature for Closure Stress Diagnosis' for the American Rock Mechanics Association's (ARMA)  800-member Hydraulic Fracturing Technical community on June 10, 2020. This was part of the ROBE talk series. Watch it HERERead More »

Utah FORGE Modeling and Simulation Forum #2 "Hydraulic Fracture Stimulation Patterns in the FORGE Reservoir Using Multiple Stochastic DFN Realizations and Variable Stress Conditions" presented by Aleta Finnila (Golder) May 20 at 11 am MDT The presentation includes a summary of the current FORGE reference DFN and the sensitivity work performed to find average and…Read More »

Introducing the first in a series of ongoing webinars from Utah FORGE. It provides an overview of the geological setting, and the range of geoscience datasets that have been acquired at the Utah FORGE field laboratory.   Subscribe HERE to hear about future webinars and other announcements.Read More »

The inaugural Modeling and Simulation Forum was held on April 15, 2020 and if you weren't able to participate you can check out the video recording of the webinar below. Topics that were covered included an overview of the Utah FORGE project, a description of the numerical methods and codes that have used, a summary…Read More »

University of Utah and Utah FORGE Announce Solicitation The University of Utah and Utah FORGE are pleased to announce FORGE Solicitation 2020-1. This is the first formal call for research proposals on enhanced geothermal systems technologies from the FORGE program. Up to 18 awards are anticipated for up to a total of $46,000,000. A pre-recorded…Read More »

The Utah FORGE Team is pleased to announce the inaugural FORGE Modeling and Simulation Forum commencing April 15 at 11 am MDT.  It is intended to be an open forum to present modeling and simulation, both completed and planned, activities being conducted by the Utah FORGE Team. The Forum will be a recurring event (frequency…Read More »