Reservoir Engineering
David Faulder, PE is responsible for completing the reservoir engineering portion of the GRED III project. David was the first researcher to sign onto the GRED III project, and was very instrumental in writing the initial grant request for DOE. To the left is a picture of David Faulder (far right), along with John Ziagos and Carol Lewis (both from Lawrence Livermore National Lab) participating in an early whiteboard strategy session for the GRED III project.
The holes drilled at Chena to measure heat flow have also been used for production and injecting testing purposes to gain a better understanding of the details of how and where hot and cold water is flowing through the fractures. Based on this testing, we are determining the best possible location for a planned deep exploration hole. Modeling of the reservoir also enables us to make decisions about production and reinjection in the shallow reservoir as part of our small scale power plant project. Reinjection, where we return the cooled water to the geothermal reservoir so that it can be reheated and recycled, is critical to the success of any sizeable geothermal development. Future reservoir engineering testing and numerical modeling will indicate how much hot water is available for use and at what rates it can be sustainably produced for future development.