Geothermal Energy
At ERL, we are interested in a range of fundamental and applied research questions towards understanding how to locate, access and extract deep heat in Earth’s crust, for large-scale power generation. Geothermal energy from supercritical fluids (hotter than ~400 °C) could be 5–10 times more powerful than today’s conventional geothermal systems. But tapping into these extreme conditions is difficult — drilling, well stabilization and heat extraction are major challenges.
To overcome these, ERL has a range of projects underway. We collaborate with MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center on new millimeter-wave drilling technologies and glass casing materials that can survive the intense environment deep underground. We develop novel approaches integrating sensing, imaging, chemistry and mechanics in the lab and field, to understand the fundamental physics of fluid flow in deep reservoirs, necessary to extract thermal energy at an unprecedented scale.
Drilling: Collaboration with MIT’s Plasma Science Fusion Center on millimeter wave drilling methods, promising technology for accessing depths in the crust well beyond the limits of mechanical drilling. ERL’s expertise in acoustic imaging and deformation processes will contribute to understanding these new drilling processes. We also develop glass casing materials that can survive the intense environment deep underground.
Rock physics for reservoir dynamics: The ability to extract heat by fluid flow will require new understanding of cracking processes at high pressure and temperature (>400 C). Projects include laboratory experiments, machine learning-based seismo-acoustic data analysis and theory/modeling.
Imaging: Locating deep hydrothermal systems, magma, hot dry rock bodies and other targets is constantly improving through sensor development, and data analysis and inversion methods, especially with rapidly advancing machine learning methods. Joint inversion of seismic and electromagnetic data is a promising direction.
Coupling to other processes for energy transition: Geothermal fluids always interact chemically with rocks, enhanced under high temperature conditions. Chemical reactions that govern a range of potentially important energy transition processes can be coupled to heat extraction, including in situ mineral extraction, hydrogen stimulation and carbon sequestration.
Image: Nesjavellir Geothermal Field, Iceland. Photo: B. Holtzman.
Current ERL projects in this area:
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Developing Adaptive Traffic Light Systems For Enhanced Geothermal Systems
Induced seismicity is both a valuable reservoir management tool and a significant challenge, particularly for enhanced geothermal system (EGS) projects. While carefully managed seismic activity can help create and maintain fluid pathways, large earthquakes—such as those that occurred at the Basel and Pohang EGS sites—have raised… more info
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Electric Stimulation Model Development
Conventional geothermal energy needs pre-existing fracture networks to conduct heat from rock to water and thence convect heat to surface turbines or other uses. Very few locations, less than 10% of Earth’s land area provide this. Enhanced geothermal systems (“hot dry rock”) can be created… more info
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Modeling Supershear Earthquakes to Forecast Induced Seismicity Hazard
While the potential for subsurface fluid injection and extraction to trigger earthquakes has long been recognized, the sharp increase in the extent and vigor of injection-induced seismicity calls for much deeper understanding than is currently available. One of the features of some highly destructive earthquakes… more info
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Seismic Imaging, Inversion and Uncertainty Quantification
The algorithmic workhorse for creating a map of the subsurface from seismic surveys is full waveform inversion. Many fundamental questions remain wide open about it, including how to deal with the lack of convexity in optimization, how to make use of AI to speed it… more info
