Method of developing and producing deep geothermal reservoirs

A method of completing geothermal production wells including the steps of:

• drilling a plurality of wells from at least one wellhead through a plurality of earthen formations;
• utilizing a first type of drill bit through first upper earthen formations for the generation of a well bore;
• utilizing a particle jet drilling bit for bore hole creation within a hot dry rock region disposed beneath the first earthen region;
• terminating a first plurality of bore holes in a first Precambrian formation to a depth of sufficient temperature to allow the development of one or more discreet formation fracture joint clouds which are oriented vertically or horizontally as determined by the rock formation;
• terminating a second of the plurality of bore holes into a lower region for creating a lower fracture joint cloud generally horizontally disposed beneath the first cloud;
• and
• hydraulically fracturing each cloud to produce a reservoir volume of dilated joints in the formation by pumping at pressures in excess of the joint dilation pressure and the formation break down pressure.

A method of drilling deep well bores from a wellhead into Precambrian and Hadean Era crystalline rock formations for accessing thermal energy therein comprising the steps of:

• establishing a bore hole drilling system from the wellhead with at least a first and a second type of drilling methodology, the first methodology including rotary-mechanical drilling and a second methodology including hydraulic drilling;
• drilling a first bore hole section from the wellhead and into a first formation utilizing the first methodology of the rotary-mechanical drilling;
• drilling a second bore hole section beneath the first bore hole section into the crystalline rock formation with the second drilling methodology of hydraulic drilling;
• exposing the thermal energy within the crystalline rock for the access thereto;
• and
• imparting multiple stress reversals to create a continuous and incremental increase in high thermal differential surface area and reservoir volume whereby continual removal of heat from the rock formation allows much greater efficiency by removing a greater amount of heat density available per unit volume.

A method of developing a high temperature hot dry rock geothermal reservoir for accessing geothermal heat energy therein and production therefrom, the method comprising the steps of:

• establishing a bore hole drilling system with at least a first and second type of drilling methodology, the first methodology including rotary-mechanical drilling and a second methodology including hydraulic drilling;
• drilling a first bore hole section utilizing the rotary-mechanical drilling;
• drilling a second bore hole section beneath the first bore hole section into crystalline rock with the hydraulic drilling;
• exposing thermal energy within the crystalline rock for the access thereto;
• fracturing the crystalline rock into a fracture cloud with at least some of the fractures in flow communication with the second bore hole section;
• pumping bore hole fluid down the first and second boreholes to hydraulically expand the fractures;
• and
• alternating hydraulic expansion and contraction of the fracture cloud to generate coincidental thermal and mechanical cycling of hot dry rock formations and periodic brecciation within the hot dry rock formation, whereby the periodic brecciation serves the purpose of incrementally exposing new high thermal differential services on an incremental basis that will serve the purpose of maintaining high temperature production in the hot dry rock formation.

A method of developing geothermal reservoirs in hot dry rock formations, the method including the steps of:

• establishing a bore hole drilling system with at least a first and second type of drilling methodology, the first methodology including rotary-mechanical drilling and the second methodology including hydraulic drilling;
• drilling a first bore hole section utilizing the rotary-mechanical drilling;
• drilling a second bore hole section beneath the first bore hole section into crystalline rock with hydraulic drilling methodology;
• exposing thermal energy within the crystalline rock for the access to joints therein;
• dilating a first group of joints to form a first reservoir;
• dilating a second group of joints to form a second reservoir;
• alternately charging and discharging the first group of joints with a fluid in order to dilate the first reservoir and cause the fluid to pass into and then subsequently flow out of the first reservoir;
• alternately charging and discharging the second group of joints with a fluid in order to dilate the second reservoir and cause the fluid to pass into and then subsequently flow out of the second reservoir;
• and
• cycling the first and second reservoirs in sequence so as to produce a continuous production flow that can be steady state and/or fluctuating.

A method of completing geothermal production wells including the steps of drilling a plurality of wells through a plurality of earthen formations;

• utilizing a first type of drill bit through first upper earthen formations for generation of a well bore;
• utilizing a particle jet drilling bit for bore hole creation within a hot dry rock region disposed beneath the first earthen region;
• terminating a first bore hole in a first Precambrian formation to a depth of sufficient temperature to allow the development of one or more discreet formation fracture joint clouds which are oriented vertically or horizontally as determined by the rock formation;
• terminating a second of the plurality of bore holes into a lower region for creating a lower fracture joint cloud generally horizontally disposed beneath the first cloud;
• and
• hydraulically fracturing each cloud to produce a reservoir volume of dilated joints in the formation by pumping at pressures in excess of the joint dilation pressure and the formation break down pressure.

A method of extracting thermal energy from a rock formation, the method comprising the steps of:

• drilling one or more wells to a depth sufficient to allow development of at least one reservoir comprised of fractures or joints within the rock formation;
• hydraulically fracturing or dilating natural joints in the formation through at least one of the wells;
• dilating at least one of the fractures of joints within the rock formation thereby forming the at least one reservoir;
• forcing cooled water under high pressure and volume into at least one of the one or more of wells to charge the at least one reservoir and create elastic strain within surrounding rock;
• alternately opening and closing at least one set of discharge control valves and at least one set injection control valves to provide flow to and from at least one of the wells and permit alternate charging and discharging to and from the at least one reservoir;
• removing heated water from the one or more wells;
• removing at least a portion of the heat from the produced water and using the heat produced from the heated water for thermal purposes.

A method of generating geothermal production wells including the steps of:

• drilling a plurality of wells from the surface through a plurality of earthen formations;
• utilizing a first type of drilling system and method to drill through a first upper sedimentary type earthen formations for generation of a well bore;
• utilizing a second type of drilling system and method for bore hole creation within a non-sedimentary region disposed beneath the first upper sedimentary earthen region;
• terminating a first plurality of bore holes in a first Precambrian formation to a depth of sufficient temperature to allow the development of one or more discreet formation fracture joint clouds which are oriented as determined by the rock formation in situ stress fields;
• terminating a second of the plurality of bore holes into a lower region for creating a lower fracture joint cloud generally horizontally disposed beneath a first cloud;
• and
• hydraulically fracturing each cloud to produce a reservoir volume of dilated joints in the formation by pumping at pressures in excess of a joint dilation pressure and a formation break down pressure.

A method of developing a high temperature hot dry rock geothermal reservoir for accessing geothermal heat energy therein and production therefrom, the method comprising the steps of:

• establishing a bore hole drilling system with at least a first and second type of drilling methodology, the first methodology including rotary-mechanical drilling or Particle Jet Assisted Rotary Mechanical Drilling (PJARMD) and a second methodology including hydraulic drilling;
• drilling a first bore hole section utilizing the rotary-mechanical drilling or PJARMD;
• drilling a second bore hole section beneath the first bore hole section into crystalline rock with hydraulic drilling methodology;
• exposing the thermal energy within the crystalline rock for the access thereto;
• fracturing the crystalline rock to form a fracture cloud with at least some of the fractures in flow communication with the second bore hole section;
• pumping bore hole fluid down the first and second borehole sections to hydraulically expand the fractures;
• and
• alternating the hydraulic expansion and contraction of the fracture cloud to generate coincidental thermal and mechanical cycling of hot dry rock formations and the periodic brecciating within the hot dry rock formation, whereby the brecciation serves the purpose of incrementally exposing new high thermal differential surfaces on an incremental basis that will serve the purpose of maintaining high temperature production in the hot dry rock formation.