Geothermal Well Discharging: Short and Long Term Periods

Abstract

For any geothermal development project the more expensive assets are the wells therefore its energy potential assessment will be relevant and valuable data gathered during successive stages of the project. To assess power potential of geothermal wells will require discharge test facilities and the injection availability (pond or wells). This paper analyzed the wellbore behavior for short term period (hour or days) and long term (month or year). The time domain behavior is modeled using TOUGH2 in order to predict the radial effect of pressure and temperature for different permeability measured in some geothermal reservoirs. The results indicate for low permeability reservoir (10 to 50 mD) long term (monthly ) discharge could be necessary to reach stable pressure and temperature condition however for high permeability (100 md or more) weekly discharge could be enough to have stable condition. The chemical assess could be require more time to reach stable condition for liquid and gas components.