NPGS Monthly Dinner Meeting—May 4
Dr. Bridget Ayling—Engineered Geothermal Systems: The Habanero Project (Australia) and the Fallon FORGE project (USA)
Nevada Petroleum & Geothermal Society
Monthly Dinner Meeting
Thursday, May 4, 2017
Speaker: Dr. Bridget Ayling
Topic: Engineered Geothermal Systems: The Habanero Project (Australia) and the Fallon FORGE project (USA)
Abstract: Engineered Geothermal Systems (EGS) have the potential to significantly contribute to our baseload energy requirements, with over 500 GWe of resource potential estimated for the western USA alone (USGS, 2008). After the first R&D project to test the EGS concept was initiated at Fenton Hill (New Mexico) in the 1970’s, there have been several projects in the USA and internationally that aimed to evaluate the viability of EGS and progress the technologies required to make EGS economic. The key technical challenges associated with EGS center on creating and maintaining appropriate reservoir heat-exchange networks, while managing any induced seismicity associated with stimulation of the reservoir.
In this talk, I will present an overview of the Habanero EGS project in the Cooper Basin, central Australia. Managed and developed by Geodynamics Limited, the Habanero project was one of the deepest, hottest and most challenging EGS sites developed anywhere in the world to date, and was operated as an active test site from 2002 to 2015. I will also introduce the US Department of Energy’s FORGE initiative (Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy) and the Fallon FORGE site in Nevada. Currently in Phase 2, FORGE aims to develop a site for the testing and development of EGS technologies. I will provide an update of activities at the Fallon FORGE site.
Bio: Dr. Bridget Ayling completed a PhD in paleoclimate and environmental geochemistry at the Australian National University in 2006, after which she began working at Geoscience Australia (Australia’s national geological survey). Dr. Ayling worked at Geoscience Australia for 10 years, including a 2-year secondment to the Energy and Geoscience Institute at the University of Utah. During her time with Geoscience Australia, she worked in both conventional and unconventional (i.e. Engineered Geothermal Systems [EGS]) geothermal settings in Australia and the USA, conducting regional geothermal resource assessments, surface heat-flow measurements, aqueous geochemistry studies, reservoir characterization, geochemical tracer studies, and numerical modelling to understand reservoir fluid flow regimes. Dr. Ayling joined the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology and the College of Science at the University of Nevada, Reno in 2016 as an Associate Professor and new Director of the Great Basin Center for Geothermal Energy. Her current activities include teaching, managing the National Geothermal Academy and the GBCGE, conducting research, outreach, and contributing to the Fallon FORGE project.
Details:
Ramada Reno Hotel
1000 East 6th Street, Reno, NV 89512
Cocktail Reception 6:30, Skyline Bar, 14th Floor
Cocktails served at 6:30 PM,
Dinner Served at 7:00 PM
NPGS Members $20, Non-Members $23, Students $10
Please RSVP for the Dinner Meeting by Tuesday May 2 with the following link:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfImr0IcRQg335rGH4-EDOpxM6u-qPQuHuuLkSKXIdrJGpvFA/viewform
If you find that you cannot attend, please email Vicki Ehni at vehni@aol.com or you can call at 775-720-6387. NPGS will be charged for all no shows. Thank you for your consideration.