The University of North Dakota announced today that it has received two grants totalling nearly $3.5 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to study the potential of geothermal energy in North Dakota. A total of $338 million was made available under the Recovery Act to support the exploration and development of new geothermal fields and research into advanced geothermal technologies.
From the UND press release...
The grants to UND are part of the project segment titled “Coproduced, Geopressured, and Low Temperature Projects” and include 11 projects selected for the development of new low-temperature geothermal fields, a vast but currently untapped set of geothermal resources. This includes geothermal heat found in the hundreds of thousands of oil and gas wells around the U.S., where up to ten barrels of hot water are produced for every barrel of oil.
The research will use a multi-disciplinary approach. In one project, a team of engineers, scientists and project developers from UND, Encore Acquisition, Berrendo Geothermal, and the North Dakota Geological Survey (NDGS) will look at the technological and economic feasibility of generating electricity from low-temperature geothermal water (water below the boiling point). The project will use geothermal technology known as organic Rankine cycle (ORC) engines.
In a second project, a partnership has been formed with UND, NDGS, Berrendo Geothermal, and Continental Resources Inc. The researchers plan to install geothermal ORC technology at oil fields operated by Encore Acquisition and Continental Resources, Inc. in western North Dakota. These power plants will be operated and monitored for two years to develop engineering and economic models for geothermal ORC energy production.
The data and knowledge acquired during the research phase will be used to guide the installation of similar geothermal ORC technology in other oil and gas settings.
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