Controlling costs to maximize production of enhanced geothermal systems. Work is being conducted to investigate the costs of drilling and completing wells and to relate those costs to the economic viability of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS).
EGS reservoir performance is controlled by the interplay of a complex set of parameters: reservoir, geology, drilling, well completion, plant design and operation. In order to identify, analyze and mitigate the economic risks of any EGS prospect, one must first understand the relative importance of each of these parameters, how its relative importance changes under different constraints, and how they interactively affect EGS production. To date, no comprehensive parametric study on EGS is known to have been conducted within the industry because EGS is considered an emerging technology. The parametric studies have considered only a limited set and range of parameters, thus potentially skewing their results.