Saturday 14 September 2013

Simulation capability illuminates geothermal energy potential



INL researchers have developed an advanced geothermal modeling application. The Fracturing And Liquid CONvection (FALCON) code enables simulation that is faster, simpler and more comprehensive. This image is from a simulation showing how FALCON can reproduce observed behavior.

Researchers in four countries are using an Idaho National Laboratory modeling program to simulate the subsurface physics important for geothermal energy extraction.

The Fracturing And Liquid CONvection (FALCON) code enables simulation that is faster, simpler and more comprehensive than previous options. A U.S. Department of Energy Geothermal Technologies Office award through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is yielding results that will advance deployment of geothermal resources by reducing risk and costs of renewable energy development. It is helping researchers evaluate geothermal energy site data, and it may soon be able to offer predictions that could help improve geothermal energy output.

"FALCON is getting a lot of international recognition," said Robert Podgorney, who co-led its development with INL's Hai Huang. "Our collaborators need numerical models and aren't satisfied with existing tools."

Enhanced geothermal systems

The project began as a quest for a simulation code that could better describe the processes underlying Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS). Like traditional geothermal energy, such systems tap heat within the Earth's crust to make electricity.

Harvesting that energy requires subsurface heat, water and permeable rock to converge at a single location. Such sites can be rare, making them difficult and expensive to find. Enhanced (or Engineered) Geothermal Systems require subsurface heat, but supply both fluid and rock permeability.

At EGS sites, fluid (typically water) is injected into hot rocks to stimulate pre-existing fractures. The circulation pathway returns hot fluid to the surface, where the heat is harvested to generate electricity. A 2006 Massachusetts Institute of Technology study predicted that in the next 50 years, EGS could provide more than a hundred gigawatts of cost-competitive electricity in the U.S. alone.

http://phys.org/news/2013-09-simulation-capability-illuminates-geothermal-energy.html

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