Review of Fenton Hill Project HDR Test Results

Abstract

Results of recent flow testing at Fenton Hill, New Mexico, have been examined in light of their applicability to the development of commercial-scale hot dry rock (HDR) reservoirs at other sites. These test results, obtained during the cumulative 11 months of reservoir flow testing between 1992 and 1995, show that there was no significant production temperature drawdown during this time and that the reservoir flow became more dispersed as flow testing proceeded. Based on these test results together with previous HDR research at Fenton Hill and elsewhere, it is concluded that a three-well geometry, with one centrally located injection well and two production wells --one at each end of the pressure-stimulated reservoir region --would provide a much more productive system for future HDR development than the two-well system tested at Fenton Hill.