Introduction
Recent national focus on the value of increasing our supply of indigenous, renewable energy underscores the need for reevaluating all alternatives, particularly those that are large and well- distributed nationally. This analysis will help determine how we can enlarge and diversify the portfolio of options we should be vigorously pursuing. One such option that is often ignored is geothermal energy, produced from both conventional hydrothermal and Enhanced (or engineered) Geothermal Systems (EGS). An 18-member assessment panel was assembled in September 2005 to evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of EGS becoming a major supplier of primary energy for U.S. base-load generation capacity by 2050. This report documents the work of the panel at three separate levels of detail. The first is a Synopsis, which provides a brief overview of the scope, motivation, approach, major findings, and recommendations of the panel. At the second level, an Executive Summary reviews each component of the study, providing major results and findings. The third level provides full documentation in eight chapters, with each detailing the scope, approach, and results of the analysis and modeling conducted in each area.
STUDY GROUP PARTICIPANTS
Panel Members
- Jefferson W. Tester, Chair
H.P. Meissner Professor of Chemical Engineering,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Brian J. Anderson
Assistant Professor/Verl Purdy Faculty Fellow of
Chemical Engineering, West Virginia University - Anthony S. Batchelor
Chairman and Managing Director, GeoScience Limited;
Former Director, U.K. Hot Dry Rock Geothermal Project,
Camborne School of Mines - David D. Blackwell
W.B. Hamilton Professor of Geophysics,
Southern Methodist University - Ronald DiPippo
Chancellor Professor Emeritus of Mechanical
Engineering/Former Associate Dean of Engineering,
University of Massachusetts – Dartmouth - Elisabeth M. Drake
Emeritus Associate Director for New Technologies,
MIT Energy Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology - John Garnish
Geothermal and CO2 Sequestration Consultant,
Chairman, Soultz-sous-Forets Scientific Advisory Panel - Bill Livesay
Drilling Engineering Consultant - Michal C. Moore
Senior Fellow, Institute for Sustainable Energy,
Environment, and Economy, University of Calgary;
Former Chief Economist, National Renewable Energy
Laboratory - Kenneth Nichols
CEO Emeritus, Barber Nichols Inc. - Susan Petty
Principal, Black Mountain Technology – Geothermal
project analysis and reservoir engineering - M. Nafi Toksöz
Robert R. Shrock Professor of Geophysics/Founder
and Former Director, Earth Resources Laboratory,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Ralph W. Veatch, Jr.
President, Software Enterprises Inc.
Former supervisor of hydraulic fracturing and well
completions, Amoco Production Co. - Roy Baria
Reservoir Geophysics Consultant, MIL-TECH UK;
Former Deputy Director, U.K. Geothermal Project at
Rosemanowes, and Scientist in Charge at Soultz - Chad Augustine
Research Assistant, Chemical Engineering,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Enda Murphy
Research Assistant, Civil and Environmental
Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Petru Negraru
Postdoctoral Researcher, Geophysics and Geothermal
Laboratory, Southern Methodist University - Maria Richards
Research Associate, Geothermal Laboratory,
Southern Methodist University
