Utah FORGE spuds geothermal production well
The Utah Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE) has begun drilling its second highly deviated deep geothermal well. This well will serve as the production well of a two-well doublet and will mirror an existing injection well that was drilled between October 2020 and February 2021. The new well will be located approximately 300 ft from the injection well.
Like the injection well, the upper part of the production well will be drilled vertically through approximately 4,550 ft of sediments, at which point it will penetrate into hard crystalline granite. At about 5,600 ft, the well will be gradually steered at a 5° angle until it reaches an inclination of 65°. The total length of the well will be approximately 10,700 ft, with the toe reaching a vertical depth of 8,265 ft. The temperature at this depth will be 440°F.
“This is a crucial next step in the Utah FORGE project’s goal of de-risking the tools and technologies required for making Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) technologies commercially viable” said Joseph Moore, and Principal Investigator of Utah FORGE. “This new well will serve as the production well. In the future, water will be pumped into the injection well, travel through the reservoir of tiny fractures that we previously opened, absorb the heat from the hard, hot crystalline granite, and then be pumped up through this new production well to the surface. This will help us capture the enormous energy potential beneath our feet and bring low cost, environmentally green, and renewable energy across the United States.”
Once the well is completed, a series of tests will be run to continue facilitating the development of the EGS reservoir and its long-term connectivity. Additional tests will also include determining the stress conditions through short-term injection experiments, during which microseismicity will be carefully monitored.
