ABSTRACT:

The development of a successful Enhanced/Engineered Geothermal System (EGS) reservoir at commercial scale has proved an elusive goal—despite the prospects of an immense resource and a near-limitless supply of sustainable baseload power. Key challenges relate to both creating and sustaining a high-throughput reservoir from an initially very low permeability deep reservoir and in achieving this with minimal induced seismicity. In the following we

  • explore the nature of early- and late-time induced seismicity anticipated in such projects,

  • observed at contemporary and historic sites, and explore how this may be linked to permeability evolution through

  • permeability-seismicity scaling and in

  • coupling with the evolving rate and state properties of the reservoir.

Keywords:
geothermal reservoir, flow rate, hydraulic fracturing, Elsworth, Upstream Oil & Gas, surface deformation, fracture permeability evolution, permeability evolution, fracture, Reservoir Characterization
Subjects:
Hydraulic Fracturing, Reservoir Characterization, Non-Traditional Resources, Geothermal resources
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2016. Taylor & Francis Group. Permission to distribute - International Society for Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering
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