Hydrothermal applications of hot dry rock technology

Within the past year, the US hot dry rock (HDR) geothermal energy research and development program has been redirected to encourage closer cooperation with the domestic hydrothermal industry. The Geothermal Energy Association has in turn recommended that one facet of a restructured HDR program should be the integration of HDR technology into the geothermal mainstream. This paper discusses a number of HDR developments in reservoir engineering, seismic science, tracer analyses, and reservoir modeling, and indicates how they might be applied to address hydrothermal issues. It is suggested that the integration of these and other HDR technologies into the geothermal mainstream might significantly contribute to enlarging the potential role of geothermal resources in the energy market of the 21st century.