Enhanced Geothermal Systems Technology

Original Article

Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) are engineered reservoirs created to produce energy from geothermal resources that are otherwise not economical due to lack of water and/or permeability. EGS technology has the potential for accessing the Earth's vast resources of heat located at depth to help meet the energy needs of the United States. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) estimates that the application of EGS technology is capable of providing at least 100,000 MWe of electricity within 50 years.

DOE's mission is to develop enhanced geothermal systems technology that produces electricity from artificially created geothermal systems. The Geothermal Technologies Program is conducting the following major activities and research involving enhanced geothermal systems technology:

* Long-term flow testing of the enhanced reservoir at the Coso Hot Springs geothermal field on the U.S. Naval Weapons Air Station (China Lake, California)
* Preliminary flow testing of the reservoir enhanced at Desert Peak, Nevada
* Evaluation of well bore stimulation experiments
* Analyses of flow tests at The Geysers in California
* Chemical stimulation of a well at Glass Mountain.

Also as part of its mission, DOE sponsors workshops that bring together members of the geothermal industry to explore various aspects of EGS technologies. The activities and results of these workshops are made available as DOE's Workshop Documents. Listed below are several additional publications of relevance to EGS, as well as other locations of information on the technology.