Development of Hot Dry Rock Technology at Hijiori Test Site - Program for a Long Term Circulation Test

Abstract

Since 1985, the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) has continued the development of Hot Dry Rock power generation in Hijiori Hot Dry Rock test site, Yamagata prefecture, Japan, as part of the Sunshine Project and succeeding New Sunshine Project sponsored by Agency of Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), a branch of the Ministry ofIntemational Trade and Industry(MITI). The objective ofthis project is to identify the feasibility of a Hot Dry Rock power generation system in Japan. Thus, the research and development being undertaken at Hijiori HDR test site is aiming to establish hot rock drilling technology, logging borehole technology for evaluating the state of the rock around the well, hydraulic fracturing technology for creating artificial fractures in rock, fracture mapping technology for surveying the reservoir area, and reservoir evaluation technology for predicting reservoir longevity.