Habanero Field Tests in the Cooper Basin, Australia: A Proof-of-Concept for EGS

摘要

In March 2009 Geodynamics completed its 'proof-of-concept' program for its hot-fractured-rock (HFR) project located near the small town of Innamincka in South Australia. Thus Geodynamics achieved its first milestone, called "Stage 1," of the company's business plan. This brings the company a major step closer to economic extraction of heat from a non-volcanic granitic basement. The drilling of three Habanero wells into fractured granite and subsequent Habanero closed-loop flow and tracer tests are of particular relevance to this proof-of-concept milestone. In this paper the basic fracture system is described, the aims and results of the closed-loop tests are discussed and future research directions are suggested.