Geothermal Technologies Office Overvie · Geothermal Use thermal energy (heat) from the earth...
Transcript of Geothermal Technologies Office Overvie · Geothermal Use thermal energy (heat) from the earth...
Geothermal Technologies Office Overview Presentation to METI/JOGMEC/AIST| October 14, 2014
Jay Nathwani
Geothermal Technologies Office
Chief Engineer
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Jeff Miller
Director, DOE Japan Office
US Embassy Tokyo
What is Geothermal?
Geothermal Heat Pumps/ Ground Source Heat Pumps
Use relatively constant temperature of the earth as heat sink for commercial and residential heating and cooling
• Near ambient temperatures (~40-80°F)
• Shallow depths - trenches to wells hundreds of feet deep
Direct Use Geothermal
Use thermal energy (heat) from the earth directly for heating/cooling buildings, greenhouses, aquaculture, pools, spas, etc.
• Moderate temperatures (100-300°F)
• Wells hundreds to thousands of feet deep
Geothermal Power (Electricity Generation)
Use thermal energy (heat) from the earth to generate electricity
• High temperatures (>300°F) as well as low temperatures (<300°F)
• Wells up to many thousands of feet deep
• Baseload generation value proposition
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Conventional Geothermal System
Hot fluid (water, steam, or both) produced from wells
drilled into ground
Fluid passed through power plant to generate electricity
Fluid (usually) re-injected back into ground
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Enhanced Geothermal Systems
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• Sector Size: Moderate current installed capacity (3.4 GWe), growing 100-150 MW/yr
• Where: Historically concentrated in a few states – but that’s changing – the co-called “tyranny of geography”
• Production: Baseload - with flexibility increasingly valued by the market
• Financial: Investment profile can be risky – but improving due to technology
• Near Term: Lots of upside potential – new fields, new concepts, and new technologies.
• Growth Opportunity: Strong potential for longer term market growth and disruption.
US Geothermal Landscape – what you should know
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3.4 GW (Currently Installed)
Developing plants + New
Hydrothermal 30+ GW
100+ GW Greenfield EGS?
7-10 GW In- to Near-Field
EGS
U.S. Geothermal Growth
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Key current growth in NV, CA, OR, ID, CO, NM
Where Else Could We See New Growth Potential?
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• Cascadia
• Snake River Plain
• South Texas/Gulf Coast
• Appalachian Basin (and other interior basins)
• New Mexico/Colorado/Rio Grande Rift
• Select interior basins
• Eastern Great Basin
Note: PCA (Planned Capacity Additions), pilot plants and utility scale geothermal plants built in the first half of the 20th century and then decommissioned are not included in the above time series.
Source: GEA
Private Industry and Government Policy Collaborations Total Nameplate Geothermal Capacity in the U.S. as of January 2014
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GRED I, II, III
CA reaches 2000 MW
PURPA
PTC, ITC
CA’s GRDA
First binary unit online
Industry Coupled Case Studies begin
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Explains strong industry interest in new prospects,
new technologies, and drilling
• Combination of early higher risk, higher costs, and regulatory uncertainty can impair projects
• Reinforces GTO focus on areas such as drilling cost, success probability, and new technologies
Adapted from ESMAP, 2012 Geothermal Handbook: Planning and Financing Power Generation
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2-4 years 1-2 years 1-2 years
GTO Major Initiatives Addressing the Risk Profile
GTO Major Initiatives
New Geothermal Opportunities “Play Fairway” Pathway to next-step drilling validation
Accelerating EGS Build upon R&D and demonstration project
successes EGS R&D Frontier Observatory for Research in
Geothermal Energy (FORGE) FOA
Tackling Deployment Barriers Regulatory Roadmap: Streamlining National Geothermal Data System: leveraging access
to data
Additive Value Low Temp Mineral Recovery Hybrid systems
NEW: Subsurface Engineering Crosscut (SubTER) Intra- and inter-agency effort to address common
subsurface challenges and better leverage DOE R&D
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Subprograms Leverage One Another Crosscutting Research
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Growth
Resource
Characterization
Non-unique signals, blind resources, cost, downhole tools limited by temperature
Reservoir Access
Comparative lack of high performance drilling tools for large diameter, high-temperature, rock drilling, cost
New occurrence models
Rotary steering
Remote sensing
Feasibility study for Horizontal wells
Technology Barriers GTO-Funded Solution Set Goal
High temperature tools
Play Fairway analysis
Hydrothermal
Blind resource signatures
Sustainability
Maintain productivity with minimal thermal drawdown and water losses
Leveraging O&G technologies
Hydrothermal sub-Program Technology and Engineering Needs
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Courtesy Baker Hughes
Courtesy US Geothermal
Peer Review reports
• Advance Key Innovative Exploration Technologies (IET)
• Targeted drilling and geophysical techniques
• Execute Play Fairway Analysis • Observational, analytical integration,
interpretation, basin and systems evolution
Hydrothermal Near-term Tools, Maps, Analysis, “Plays”
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Low
Temp/Co-
pro Growth
Cooling Technologies
Air-cooled systems are constrained in hotter areas of the arid-concentrated Western U.S.
Fluid Value
Lower temperature fluids are inherently less valuable for power generation than hotter; additional uses/revenue sources are needed
Energy Conversion
Improve efficiencies for lower temperatures, operation & maintenance, cost
Advanced working fluids
Technology Barriers GTO-Funded Solution Set Goal
Coproduction
Innovative conversion cycles
Improved binary system components
Leveraging O&G infrastructure
Hybrid cooling cycles
Hybrid Technologies
Materials Extraction
Low Temperature sub-Program Technology and Engineering Needs
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Courtesy UTC Power
Courtesy NREL
Courtesy UTC Power
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Low Temperature Expansion via Direct Use
• The low-temperature portion of the geothermal spectrum used for direct-use applications, contains the bulk of the readily accessible resource base.
• About 25% of US energy use occurs at temperatures <100C – mostly from burning natural gas and oil.
• If a resource is located near a direct use application, it may be more economically advantageous to use that heat directly, rather than electricity generation.
What is Direct Use? Direct use is the utilization of geothermal waters, without a power plant or heat pump, to provide: Space and district
heating/cooling; agricultural applications; aquaculture; water heating/chilling; industrial uses and water treatment/desalination.
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© by J.W. Tester, D.B. Fox and D. Sutter, Cornell University 2010
The Blue Lagoon in Iceland
• Low-Temperature Mineral Extraction - Resource
assessment and feasibility (additive value)
• Large-scale Direct Use: where does it make technical and commercial sense?
• Use geothermal hot fluids for heating and cooling
• Potential displacement of traditional baseload generation on site-by-site basis
• Large-scale development most likely along Atlantic Coastal Plain where population centers overlie basement granitic rocks with radiogenic heat-producing elements.
• Other potential basins include the Allegheny, Illinois and Michigan.
Low Temperature Near-term Materials Extraction, Direct-Use, Hybrid Systems
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Courtesy Bloomberg Courtesy Electratherm
O&G Well Temp, Gulf Coast
EGS
Success
Reservoir Access
New well geometries and concepts, optimized drilling
Reservoir Creation
Characterize local stress, zonal isolation, novel fracturing methods, increase fractured volume per well
Productivity
Increase flow rates without excessive pressure needs or flow localization
Sustainability
Maintain productivity with minimal thermal drawdown and water losses
Hard/Hot-rock drilling, completion technologies
Rotary steering
Zonal Isolation
Smart tracers
High-T sensors
Stress-field diagnostics
Cross-well monitoring
Diverter technologies
Technology Barriers GTO-Funded Solution Set Goal
Challenges to EGS Development Technology and Engineering Needs
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Snapshot of U.S. Efforts in EGS EERE-funded demonstration projects showing promising results
Desert Peak, NV. In FY13, successfully
stimulated an existing sub-commercial well -
first EGS project in US to produce commercial
electricity (additional 1.7MW) to the grid.
High T Hydrothermal
Reservoir
High T, Low Permeability Margins Nearfield EGS
Candidate Wells
Infield EGS Candidate Wells
(unsuccessful hydrothermal wells)
Infield and Nearfield EGS
Greenfield – where no
geothermal dev’t exists
The Geysers, CA. Created man-made reservoir
beneath the productive portion of a natural
reservoir. Potential to produce 5MW.
7-10 GW
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Nearfield – on the
periphery of a
hydrothermal field
Infield – within a
hydrothermal field in an
unsuccessful hydrothermal
well
Pathway to larger, more complex and
more challenging R&D efforts
• Ormat Technologies’ Desert Peak EGS project successfully supplied 1.7 MW electricity to the grid – a first-in-the-nation achievement
• DOE invested $5.4 million, with a private costshare of $2.6 million
• Desert Peak represents a near-term opportunity to develop EGS at lower cost and risk; potential for reserve additions at highly competitive costs ($0.02-05/kwh)
“If we can go to all the hundred or thousands of wells that
are unproductive and tinker with them to make them productive,
this is a game changer.”
Paul Thomsen, Former Director of Policy and
Business Development, Ormat Technologies
– MIT Technology Review, 4/2013
Desert Peak EGS Demonstration 1st US Grid-Connected EGS Project, 2013
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• Continue to grow existing fields (through in-field EGS) using thermal and multi-stage vertical-well stimulations, high-temperature thermally-degradable packers
• Integrated EGS R&D: Advance high-fidelity subsurface characterization via an integrated technical approach to EGS R&D
• EGS Field Observatory (FORGE), data availability and the validation and testing of replicable EGS development methodologies.
Re-completion of the well at Desert Peak
175-fold increase in well productivity
additional 1.7 MW
increased power output by nearly 40%.
graphics courtesy of Ormat
Technologies.
What’s Next for EGS? In-Field Stimulations, Horizontal Wells, Replicability
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6 - 7 Years
• High-risk / high-reward - Drilling technology, well construction and integrity - Advanced characterization tools and methods - Stimulation technologies
• Highly-integrated technology testing
• Live data site
• Explicit partnerships with the research community and other subsurface stakeholders
• Methodology for reproducing large-scale, economically-sustainable heat exchangers
Site Selection & Planning
Site Preparation & Characterization
Technology Testing & Evaluation Closeout
Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE)
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FORGE: Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy
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FORGE Structure – Phased Approach
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New Selectees for GTO FY14 Funding Opportunities Projects Starting Fall 2014, 32 Projects, $18M
Play Fairway Analysis Integrated EGS R&D Value-Added Materials
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Permitting challenges A non-competitive process can doom projects
Data Access Creates more prospects, lower risk and cost, more efficient geothermal research and resource development
Financing Relatively small size of the Industry + perceived risk = project financing challenges
Grid Integration Solutions to supply geothermal electricity to the grid
Regulatory road-mapping and streamlining Initiative
National Geothermal Data Repository
Modeling
Demonstrations
Market reports
Working groups
Market Barriers Potential Solution Set Goal
A Clearer Pathway for Geothermal
Development
Techno-economic analysis
Key Market Barriers Many Elements Unique to Geothermal
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Launch of the National Geothermal Data System
“Best-in-class” data collection and usability effort
Addresses a
significant obstacle to geothermal development: lack of quantifiable data
Nine million inter-
operable GIS data points in 340 separate web feature and map services
Complies with the Administration’s Open Data Policy
Supports the Energy Department’s efforts to reduce cost and risks associated with widespread adoption of geothermal energy
Tools and
Models
Featured
Node
Training
Free software
for data
providers
Newest
Submissions
Access to
9 million
datapoints
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The Regulatory Roadmap is a set of flowcharts providing detailed information outlining the requirements for developing geothermal energy projects
Includes topics such as land access, siting, exploration, drilling, plant construction and operation, water resource acquisition, and relevant environmental considerations.
Geothermal Regulatory Roadmap
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•Geothermal Vision Study
•Validation of GTO-funded efforts, including tracking of commercial and emerging commercial projects
•Collaboration with CEQ, BLM, NFS, state regulators and industry to identify opportunities to responsibly optimize the geothermal development permitting process
• Life-cycle analysis of environmental impact of geothermal (GHG, water, footprint)
•Tools to enable public sharing of GTO-funded RD&D data and results
Systems Analysis – Near Term Techno-Economic Analysis and Validation, Regulatory Streamlining, Data Sharing
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Key Results on Funded Projects 2013
The Geysers EGS demonstration project in northern California successfully drilled a
new and distinct reservoir in a very low permeability, high-temperature region, yielding a sustained 5
MW resource. Desert Peak EGS demonstration project became the first grid-connected EGS project in
America to generate commercial electricity, with an additional 1.7 MW at the existing well-field.
Florida Canyon Mine Low Temperature project demonstrated the ability to take
advantage of geothermal power generation —as a byproduct of gold mining—to generate electricity for
less than 6 cents/kWh. This patented plug-and-play technology is the first in the nation to employ cost-
free geothermal brine at a mine operation.
An innovative exploration project at Caldwell Ranch in California culminated in
the confirmation of an initial 11.4 MW of equivalent steam—50% more than early estimates—from three
previously abandoned wells. First geothermal project where an abandoned steam field has been
successfully re-opened for production. The Geothermal Regulatory Roadmap—an online public tool that outlines federal, state,
and local regulation for geothermal development in selected geothermal-rich states—was cited in the
White House Report to the President, issued in May 2013, as a best practice.
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Oregon Institute of Technology: Commissioned 1.5 MW of newly-installed geothermal
power on campus, from a $1 million GTO award with $4 million match by Johnson Controls.
Pagosa Verde: GTO’s $3.9 million geothermal exploration project in Colorado is being matched by a
$1.98 million state bond, with a bill signing by Colorado Gov. Hickenlooper on May 30.
National Geothermal Data System: Deployed “best-in-class” geothermal data system June
FY14, and GEA award.
FastCAP: GTO’s $2.2 million investment has succeeded in development and commercialization of a
cutting-edge power system for geothermal exploration in high vibration, extreme drilling environments.
Surprise Valley Electrification Corp:* a non-profit rural cooperative, plans to go online with
a low-temperature, 3 MW geothermal power plant later this year, funded with $2M in GTO Recovery Act
funds, matched by a $3M Oregon Department of Energy Business tax credit. Waste heat from the plant
will be used for aquaculture, green house farming, and district heating.
* Expected
Key Results on Funded Projects 2014
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SNL Drilling: Developed and licensed a first-of-a-kind, high-temperature (480F), elastomer-free
drilling motor for use with pneumatic down-the-hole-hammers, for drilling in high temperature
geothermal formations.
Raft River (Idaho) EGS Demonstration Project:* Will complete two phases of thermal
stimulation that commenced in FY 2013, and will complete a large injection volume hydraulic stimulation
of an existing sub-commercial well. Through this combination of wellbore thermal conditioning and
hydraulic stimulation, this is targeted to become a commercial production/injection well.
Bradys (Nevada) EGS Demonstration Project:* Will have completed final stimulation stages by the end of FY.
AltaRock EGS Demonstration Project: * in Oregon will accomplish re-stimulation of an
existing well and completing a production well into the stimulated reservoir.
* Expected
Key Results on Funded Projects 2014, CONT’D
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Simbol groundbreaking:*Originally funded for $3 million in Recovery Act funds to
study methods of extracting valuable minerals from geothermal brines, this project will break
ground in October 2014 on construction of a commercial lithium extraction plant in the Salton
Sea area in CA – projected to be operational by 2016.
EGS demos:* Four of five EGS Demonstration projects completed, with increased
injectivity, comparable to commercial hydrothermal wells measured in EGS target wells.
Supercritical CO2:* First-ever CO2 geothermal thermosiphon test is expected at the
Cranfield, MS site.
Commercial hybrid cycle CSP-Geothermal binary power plant demonstration* completed, in cooperation with National lab and industry partners. Will
quantify potential benefits of different operating strategies and integration schemes of
commercial hybrid plants in real-world conditions.
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Key Anticipated Results on Funded Projects 2015
* Expected
Questions?
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