Technical Resources

Geothermal energy has emerged in recent years as a potential alternative green technology to address an ever-increasing demand by the world for energy. This study focuses on a geothermal prototype system in Alberta, Canada whereby fluid circulating in the system never enters the surrounding rock, and instead acts in a similar manner to a radiator, using conduction to heat the fluid returning to the surface. We installed a local monitoring array within 10 km of the geothermal operations to monitor for any potential microseismicity over a 2-year period. Using a machine learning data analysis approach, we identified 94 seismic events within a350 km radius of the geothermal operations, with magnitudes ranging from ML 0.94 to ML 4.09. Events detected included natural and induced events (e.g. from quarry blasting). However, no seismicity was detected within 30 km of the operations. The fact that small magnitude events were detected by the monitoring equipment, but not in the vicinity of the operations, gives us confidence that no events ML > 1 were likely induced by the geothermal activities during the 2-year monitoring period.

The energy generation and consumption in the Netherlands is slowly but steadily shifting away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy sources, such as offshore wind, and solar, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In order to improve renewable energy security and affordability, other sources of renewable energy, like geothermal energy, need to become part of the energy mix in the near future. At present, the majority of geothermal wells in The Netherlands are shallow wells, but deeper wells with high power output will be required to make a larger contribution to the overall energy supply. In this light, the ELFO project assessed the feasibility and economic viability of a deep well system: the Eavor Loop, consisting of 12 multi-laterals. The consortium of TNO (independent research institution), Eavor (geothermal energy company), Huisman Geo BV (drilling equipment & research) and EnNatuurlijk (operator of district heating) evaluated the suitability of this technology as primary heat source for city heating networks in the Tilburg area and for possible wider adaption in the Netherlands.

Different electricity generating technologies are often compared using the Levelized Costs of Electricity (LCOE), which summarize different ratios of fixed to variable costs into a single cost metric. They have been criticized for ignoring the effects of intermittency and non-dispatchability. This paper introduces the Levelized Full System Costs of Electricity (LFSCOE), a novel cost evaluation metric that compares the costs of serving the entire market using just one source plus storage. Like LCOE, and in contrast to alternatives such as System LCOE, LFSCOE condense the cost for each technology into one number per market. The paper calculates LFSCOE for several technologies using data from two different markets. It then discusses some refinements, including the LFSCOE-95 metric that require each technology to supply only 95% of total demand.

This project evaluated techno-economic performance for a sample Eavor-Loop 2.0 design for electricity production and direct-use heating. The Eavor-Loop 2.0 design investigated is a 7.5-km deep closed-loop geothermal system consisting of 12 laterals for a total of more than 90 km of downhole well and lateral length.

To allow drilling and exploitation of deep CLGS wells, an integrated managed pressure operation (MPO) concept is presented.

Three detailed models of the future of California’s power system all show that California needs carbon-free electricity sources that don’t depend on the weather.

This profile compares Eavor’s geothermal electricity generation technology against competing electricity generation systems, such as large-scale solar systems with integrated battery-energy storage systems (BESSs), with integrated natural gas turbines (NGTs), or with both.

Eavor has proposed an innovative well design for geothermal energy production, the Eavor-Loop™ . The Eavor Loop consists of a closed loop system, in which heat is extracted from the deep subsurface through multi lateral wells acting as effective heat exchangers.

Closed-loop geothermal energy recovery technology has advantages of being independent of reservoir fluid and permeability, experiencing less parasitic load from pumps, and being technologically ready and widely used for heat exchange in shallow geothermal systems.

Constructing Deep Closed-Loop Geothermal Wells for Globally Scalable Energy Production by Leveraging Oil and Gas ERD and HPHT Well Construction Expertise.

Globally scalable geothermal energy production through managed pressure operation control of deep closed-loop well systems.

Full decarbonization of the electricity sector is critical to global climate mitigation. Across a wide range of sensitivities, firm low-carbon resource —including nuclear power, bioenergy, and natural gas plants that capture CO2—consistently lower the cost of decarbonizing electricity generation.