Newberry Volcano EGS Demonstration

Demonstrate the development and operation of an Engineered Geothermal System ("EGS"), including site and resource investigation, well drilling and completion, stimulation of wells to create a geothermal reservoir, testing of well productivity and assessment of reservoir characteristics, construction of an EGS wellfield and power plant, and extended operation and monitoring of the constructed facility with continuous power generation over the 30-year design life of the plant.

The project will demonstrate EGS power generation from the Newberry Known Geothermal Resource Area ("Newberry"). Four deep, high temperature, very low permeability, production-size wells have been completed at Newberry, including two currently owned by Davenport. The Newberry project site exemplifies unparalleled EGS potential in the United States, with a large, high-temperature, conductive thermal anomaly yielding wells with permeability orders of magnitude less than conventional hydrothermal wells.

The Newberry Volcano EGS Demonstration will allow geothermal industry and academic experts to develop, validate and enhance geoscience and engineering techniques and procedures that are essential to the expansion of EGS throughout the country. Successful development and long-term power generation will demonstrate to the American public that EGS can play a significant role in reducing foreign energy dependence, and provide the first indigenous source of geothermal power to the State of Oregon.

The AltaRock-assembled team will characterize the Newberry resource using available data and a wide array of conventional and innovative EGS geoscience and reservoir engineering techniques to select the best existing well for stimulation. A seismic array will be deployed and a risk analysis will be completed. A conventional injection test will be conducted to quantify injectivity and ensure well bore competency. Additional logging operations, including an experimental borehole televiewer, will be completed to characterize the formation, inherent stress regime and the presence of natural fractures. Assembly of 3-D thermo-hydro-mechanical-chemical and stimulation models will aid in reservoir design and stimulation planning, and reservoir characterization through project completion.

The selected well will be stimulated using experimental hydraulic, mechanical and chemical techniques, aided by innovative zonal isolation methods, conducted with and without the use of a drill rig. The resulting EGS reservoir will be mapped using microseismic methods to delineate production well targets and elucidate reservoir geometry. Production wells will be drilled into the EGS fracture network, then tested and stimulated, as necessary, to enhance connectivity with the injection well. Several reservoir tracer compounds will be injected into the reservoir, and extensive geochemical sampling and analysis will be conducted to characterize fluid pathways and travel times. An extended flow test involving all three wells will be completed, with test results used to numerically model and forecast long-term reservoir performance. Initial reservoir development will be followed by the design, construction and operation of a power generation facility to assess and validate long-term fluid flow and heat extraction rates from the EGS reservoir for the 30-year design life of the plant.

The Newberry project site exemplifies unparalleled EGS potential in the United States, with a large, high-temperature, conductive thermal anomaly yielding wells with permeability orders of magnitude less than conventional hydrothermal wells.