Hot dry rock energy storage

What heats the hot dry rock?

Another source of geothermal energy is hot, dry rock that is several kilometers deep inside the earth. These rocks are heated by magma directly below them and have elevated temperatures, but they do not have a means of transporting the heat to the surface.

What is a hot dry rock (HDR) or Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS)?

Hot Dry Rock (HDR) or Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) utilize volumes of rock in the Earth's crust that have been heated to useful temperatures through abnormally high heat flow, but have low permeability or are virtually impermeable.

What is hot dry rock geothermal energy?

The concept of Hot Dry Rock (HDR) geothermal energy originated at Los Alamos National Laboratory in the early 1970s, to exploit the heat contained in those vast regions of the earth's crust that contain no fluids in place—by far more widespread than natural hydrothermal resources.

What is Hot Dry Rock (HDR) development?

Hot Dry Rock (HDR) development involves forming geothermal reservoirs in granitic formations that have high temperature but very low permeability and lack of stored fluid. The first site for this work was the Valles Caldera in New Mexico at the Fenton Hill project.

Why are hot dry rocks difficult to extract heat from?

Hot dry rocks are difficult to extract heat from because they possess limited fractures or pore spaces and hence have no or little water, or no unified rock porousness. These geothermal resources form in the state of storage geothermal heat in rocks at a depth nearly 10 km from the Earth’s surface.

Who invented hot dry rock (HDR) geothermal energy?

In the early 1970s, a small group of researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory invented, and then patented, the new idea of Hot Dry Rock (HDR) geothermal energy.