Geothermal as a renewable source of energy has a wide range of applications. Particularly heating and cooling with eventually electricity generation could be an alternative to large scale pure electricity generation of geothermal power plants. This paper shows the economics of various concept considered to provide heating and cooling of the Well Construction Technology Center (WCTC) at the University of Oklahoma, costs which are approximately $25,000 to $30,000 per year. The goal of this paper is to perform a through economic study of various type of geothermal concept for heating and cooling system which may also include small power generation. Our focus on geothermal is an effort to offset CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions that result from burning fossil fuels while consistently providing baseload power to the facility. The WCTC is uniquely suited to geothermal heating and cooling because of its proximity to a shut-in well. This paper is a discussion of the design and economics of four geothermal options that will enhance or otherwise utilize the existing well for its geothermal capacity. The following concepts are analyzed and discussed in this paper: 1. Shallow-depth geothermal wells 2. Resume OU 24-1 production 3. Single well injector/producer system 4. Dual well enhanced geothermal system (EGS) Our results show the sensitivity of geothermal development for long and short term return. Although short term economics are not favorable, we believe that if look into the future, such concepts may help reducing the University’s carbon footprint making the pursuit of a geothermal system worthy of further consideration.

Press the Back button in your browser, or search again.

Copyright 2020, Stanford Geothermal Program: Readers who download papers from this site should honor the copyright of the original authors and may not copy or distribute the work further without the permission of the original publisher.