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The objective is to Improve the understanding of geothermal resource at Tohatchi Hot Springs, New Mexico using exploratory data analysis and machine learning (ML) methods.
This is a presentation on the Cutting Edge Application of Machine Learning, Geomechanics, and Seismology for Real-Time Decision Making Tools During Stimulation by the University of Utah, presented by No'am Zach Dvory. This video slide presentation, by the University of Utah, discussed the technical objectives of developing a real-time decision-making platform to enhance seismic monitoring and risk management during stimulation activities. This presentation was featured in the Utah FORGE R&D Annual Workshop on August 15, 2024.
Geothermal has huge potential to become an indispensable component in achieving the goal of sustainable energy economy, given its capability to provide consistent baseload power to the electric grid. Injection tests are crucial in geothermal energy system as they naturally help to evaluate reservoir properties, understand fluid flow and even enhance reservoir performance. In this research, we developed a hybrid model system that integrates machine learning (ML) regression, a physics-based mathematical model, and transformer deep learning. Trained and validated using FORGE injection test dataset, this system can forecast the pressure variations both upward and downward over time. The pressure prediction achieved prediction accuracy within 3-6% variance of true pressure values. The system can significantly save time and reduce costs by testing only a few cycles and then using model predictions for further analysis, instead of conducting additional real injection cycle tests. The developed model system also holds promise for designing injection test processes and maintaining well production in geothermal energy. Presented at the IMAGE ‘25 Conference led by Shell.
The scripts below are used to run the Geothermal Exploration Artificial Intelligence developed within the "Detection of Potential Geothermal Exploration Sites from Hyperspectral Images via Deep Learning" project. It includes all scripts for pre-processing and processing, including: - Land Surface Temperature K-Means classifier - Labeling AI using Self Organizing Maps (SOM) - Post-processing for Permanent Scatterer InSAR (PSInSAR) analysis with SOM - Mineral marker summarizing - Artificial Intelligence (AI) Data splitting: creates data set from a single raster file - Artificial Intelligence Model: creates AI from a single data set, after splitting in Train, Validation and Test subsets - AI Mapper: creates a classification map based on a raster file
These files contain the geodatabases related to the Desert Peak Geothermal Field. It includes all input and output files used in the project. The files include data categories of raw data, pre-processed data, and analysis (post-processed data). In each of these categories there are six additional types of raster catalogs including Radar, SWIR, Thermal, Geophysics, Geology, and Wells. The files for the Desert Peak Geothermal Site are used with the Geothermal Exploration Artificial Intelligence to identify indicators of blind geothermal systems. The included zip file is a geodatabase to be used with ArcGIS and the tar file is an inclusive database that encompasses the inputs and outputs for the Desert Peak Geothermal Field.
Subsurface characterization is crucial for geothermal energy exploration and production. Yet hydrothermal reservoirs usually reside in highly fractured and faulted zones where accurate characterization is very challenging because of low signal-to-noise ratios of land seismic data and lack of coherent reflection signals. We perform an active-source seismic characterization for the Blue Mountain geothermal field in Nevada using active seismic data to reveal the elastic medium property complexity and fault distribution at this field. We first employ an unsupervised machine learning method to attenuate groundroll and near-surface guided-wave noise and enhance coherent reflection and scattering signals from noisy seismic data. We then build a smooth initial P-wave velocity model based on an existing magnetotellurics survey result, and use 3D first-arrival traveltime tomography to refine the initial velocity model. We then derive a set of elastic wave velocities and anisotropic parameters using elastic full-waveform inversion, and obtain PP and PS images using elastic reverse-time migration. We identify major faults by analyzing the variations of seismic velocities and anisotropy parameters, and reveal mid- to small-scale faults by applying a supervised machine learning method to the seismic migration images. Our characterization reveals complex velocity heterogeneities and anisotropies, as well as faults, with a high spatial resolution. These results can provide valuable information for optimal placement of future injection and production wells to increase geothermal energy production at the Blue Mountain geothermal power plant.
These files contain the geodatabases related to Salton Sea Geothermal Field. It includes all input and output files used with the Geothermal Exploration Artificial Intelligence. Input and output files are sorted into three categories: raw data, pre-processed data, and analysis (post-processed data). In each of these categories there are six additional types of raster catalogs which are titled Radar, SWIR, Thermal, Geophysics, Geology, and Wells. The files are used with the Geothermal Exploration Artificial Intelligence for the Salton Sea Geothermal Site to identify indicators of blind geothermal systems. The included zip file is a geodatabase to be used with ArcGIS and the tar file is an inclusive database that encompasses the inputs and outputs for the Salton Sea Geothermal Site.
These files contain the geodatabases related to Brady's Geothermal Field. It includes all input and output files for the Geothermal Exploration Artificial Intelligence. Input and output files are sorted into three categories: raw data, pre-processed data, and analysis (post-processed data). In each of these categories there are six additional types of raster catalogs which are titled Radar, SWIR, Thermal, Geophysics, Geology, and Wells. These inputs and outputs were used with the Geothermal Exploration Artificial Intelligence to identify indicators of blind geothermal systems at the Brady Hot Springs Geothermal Site. The included zip file is a geodatabase to be used with ArcGIS and the tar file is an inclusive database that encompasses the inputs and outputs for the Brady Hot Springs Geothermal Site.
Provided here are various forms of the Stanford Thermal Earth Model, as well as the data and methods used for its creation. The predictions produced by this model were visualized in two-dimensional spatial maps across the modeled depths (0-7 km) for the conterminous United States. The thermal earth model is made available as an application programming interface (API) and as feature layers on ArcGIS, which are both provided via links below. A data-driven spatial interpolation algorithm based on physics-informed graph neural networks was used to develop these national temperature-at-depth maps. The model satisfied the three-dimensional heat conduction law by predicting subsurface temperature, surface heat flow, and rock thermal conductivity. Many physical quantities, including bottomhole temperature, depth, geographic coordinates, elevation, sediment thickness, magnetic anomaly, gravity anomaly, gamma-ray flux of radioactive elements, seismicity, and electric conductivity were used as model inputs. Surface heat flow, temperature, and thermal conductivity predictions were constructed for depths of 0-7 km at an interval of 1 km with spatial resolution of 18 km2 per grid cell. The model showed superior temperature, surface heat flow and thermal conductivity mean absolute errors of 4.8C, 8.1 mW/m2 and 0.07 W/(C-m), respectively..
The Department of Energy's (DOE) Geothermal Data Repository (GDR) has implemented a series of new features designed to connect people to data. These features, which are based on feedback from the GDR user community and surveys of the greater geothermal research community, are designed to improve data quality and empower members of all communities to better engage with geothermal data resources by providing universal access to data and by improving the connections between data providers, subject matter experts, and the communities of people using GDR data. This paper will explore some of the recent enhancements made to the GDR to improve data discoverability, reduce submission time, and result in better quality data submissions. These improvements include the ability for users to save a list of their favorite datasets, search for insight into geothermal datasets or data availability, or sign up to receive notifications of future updates to specific datasets. These improvements aim to enhance the overall user experience of the GDR while further connecting communities to the data they need to inform decisions, advance geothermal research, and develop innovative solutions to local energy problems.
The submission includes the labeled datasets, as ESRI Grid files (.gri, .grd) used for training and classification results for our machine leaning model: - brady_som_output.gri, brady_som_output.grd, brady_som_output.* - desert_som_output.gri, desert_som_output.grd, desert_som_output.* The data corresponds to two sites: Brady Hot Springs and Desert Peak, both located near Fallon, NV. Input layers include: - Geothermal: Labeled data (0: Non-geothermal; 1: Geothermal) - Minerals: Hydrothermal mineral alterations, as a result of spectral analysis using Chalcedony, Kaolinite, Gypsum, Hematite and Epsomite - Temperature: Land surface temperature (% of times a pixel was classified as "Hot" by K-Means) - Faults: Fault density with a 300mradius - Subsidence: PSInSAR results showing subsidence displacement of more than 5mm - Uplift: PSInSAR results showing subsidence displacement of more than 5mm Also, the results of the classification using Brady and Desert Peak to build 2 Convolutional Neural Networks. These were applied to the training site as well as the other site, the results are in GeoTiff format. - brady_classification: Results of classification of the Brady-trained model - desert_classification: Results of classification of the Desert Peak-trained model - b2d_classification: Results of classification of Desert Peak using the Brady-trained model - d2b_classification: Results of classification of Brady using the Desert Peak-trained model
This is the regional dataset compilation for the INnovative Geothermal Exploration through Novel Investigations Of Undiscovered Systems (INGENIOUS) project. The primary goal of this project is to accelerate discoveries of new, commercially viable hidden geothermal systems while reducing the exploration and development risks for all geothermal resources. These datasets will be used in INGENIOUS as input features for predicting geothermal favorability throughout the Great Basin study area. Datasets consist of shapefiles, geotiffs, tabular spreadsheets, and metadata that describe: 2-meter temperature probe surveys, quaternary faults and volcanic features, geodetic shear and dilation models, heat flow, magnetotellurics (conductance), magnetics, gravity, paleogeothermal features (such as sinter and tufa deposits), seismicity, spring and well temperatures, spring and well aqueous geochemistry analyses, thermal conductivity, and fault slip and dilation tendency. For additional project information, see the INGENIOUS project site linked in the submission. Terms of use: These datasets are provided "as is", and the contributors assume no responsibility for any errors or omissions. The user assumes the entire risk associated with their use of these data and bears all responsibility in determining whether these data are fit for their intended use. These datasets may be redistributed with attribution (see citation information below). Please refer to the license information on this page for full licensing terms and conditions.
The Galleries-to-Calories Geobattery concept explores the use of abandoned coal mine workings for large-scale thermal energy transport and storage. The system involves injecting waste heat from a supercomputing facility into flooded mine galleries, where groundwater flow can store and transport thermal energy for potential recovery in downgradient district heating and cooling applications. To evaluate the feasibility and performance of the Geobattery under geological and operational uncertainty, we developed a suite of stochastic thermo-hydrological (TH) simulations using Monte Carlo sampling of key uncertain parameters (e.g., permeability, porosity, thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity) and operating conditions (e.g., injection rate, injection temperature). Results identified injection rate and temperature as the most influential parameters governing thermal front propagation, while the geometry of the room-and-pillar structure played a critical role in directing the extent and orientation of thermal advancement. Optimal combinations of material properties for maximizing heat recovery were also determined. To address the high computational cost of coupled-process stochastic modeling, we trained a neural network surrogate model on 24,000 physics-based realizations, achieving an R² > 0.99 and MAE < 0.1 for temperature predictions at monitoring locations. This surrogate enabled an additional 100,000 realizations for global sensitivity analysis and probabilistic thermal resource assessment. The integrated stochastic physics–surrogate modeling framework offers a computationally efficient tool for quantifying uncertainty, identifying key drivers, and informing early-stage design decisions for Geobattery systems.
Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) offer a vast potential to expand the use of geothermal energy. Heat is extracted from this engineered system by injecting cold water into a subsurface fractures, which are in contact with the hot dry rock, and pulled through the production wells. Creating EGS requires improving the natural permeability of hot crystalline rocks. To develop economically viable EGS reservoirs, significant technical barriers (e.g., better stimulation technologies without adequate water and/or permeability) and non-technical barriers (e.g., land access and permitting) must be overcome. In this short conference paper, we present a workflow to address a part of this challenge – “How to develop economically viable EGS using existing technologies?”. Our workflow called the GeoThermalCloud (GTC) for EGS, leverages recent advances in machine learning, deep learning, and cloud computing. This GTC framework is open-source and available at https://github.com/SmartTensors/GeoThermalCloud.jl. The GTC framework provides trained deep learning (DL) models to estimate the net present value of a given EGS design scenario. The Geothermal Design Tool (https://github.com/GeoDesignTool/GeoDT.git), a fast and simplified multi-physics solver, is used to develop a database for training DL models. The database consists of EGS design parameters (inputs to DL model) and their net present value (output of DL model) in uncertain geologic systems. The EGS design parameters for constructing this training database are based on Utah FORGE but include the options of more wells and deeper depths. The DL models are trained by ingesting the EGS design parameters and estimating the corresponding net present value. Such an emulation allows us to screen various EGS designs quickly and identify good development strategies by coupling them with optimization techniques. Our preliminary results show promise in DL emulation of net present value. However, a lot more work is needed to improve the predictive capability of DL models (i.e., extensive hyperparameter tuning is necessary). This will be the primary focus of our future work.
A database of geochemical compositions of aqueous species in potential geothermal resources. The NETL NEWTS team has formatted the original Argonne V2 database for Charge Balance, Input into OLI Studio, and Input into GWB. (Geochemist WorkBench) In addition, some missing species in the original database were predicted using machine learning techniques within CoDart software, a public ML software developed by the Nation Energy Technology Laboratory. We have made the Input into CoDart and one example output from CoDart available in this dataset.
Directional permeability variations, which govern directional fluid flow in porous media with anisotropy, are important to accurately predict flow behavior, reactive transport, and fluid–solid interactions for various processes such as enhanced geothermal systems, energy storage devices, and biological systems. However, the intricate architecture of porous media makes it difficult to predict directional permeabilities. In this work, we present a novel machine learning (ML) framework, AnisONet, built upon an integration of a convolutional neural network, Swin transformer, and the deep operator network architecture, designed to predict anisotropic permeability and upscale predictions to larger spatial domains. First, AnisONet was evaluated with three classes of two-dimensional (2D) porous media, including synthetic circular and elliptical grains and natural sandstone grains from micro-computed tomography images. A lattice Boltzmann model (LBM) was used to calculate directional permeabilities at every 10° angle, producing 19 data points per image of porous media. AnisONet is then trained to predict permeability as a function of rotation angle. AnisONet showed strong predictive capability of directional permeability. Second, we tested our model for five upscaling cases with a large image size in the finite-element method (FEM) for 2D Darcy flow with various permeability tensor construction methods. Overall, upscaled permeability tensors in FEM simulations produce a reasonably good match with LBM results, highlighting the importance of selecting appropriate tensor formation strategies for accurate permeability upscaling. AnisONet, as a directional permeability estimator, could be further developed for more complex geometries, with the potential to develop a foundational ML model for various applications in porous media.
Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) offer a vast potential to expand the use of geothermal energy. Heat is extracted from this engineered system by injecting relatively cold water into subsurface fractures, which are in contact with hot dry rock, and brought back to surface through production wells. Creating EGS requires improving the natural permeability of hot crystalline rocks. In this short conference paper, we present a reproducible workflow for modeling EGS. Our workflow called the GeoThermalCloud (GTC) for EGS, leverages recent advances in machine learning, deep learning, and high-performance computing. This GTC framework is currently being made open-source, user-friendly, and reproducible through python scripts as well as Google Colab/Jupyter Notebooks. This GTC for EGS modeling scripts are made available at https://github.com/SmartTensors/GeoThermalCloud.jl/tree/master/EGS and will constantly be updated to cater for geothermal community. Current GTC framework provides scripts to train deep learning (DL) models for techno-economics and data worth analysis. The Geothermal Design Tool (https://github.com/GeoDesignTool/GeoDT.git), a fast and simplified multi-physics solver, is used to develop a database for training DL models. This short paper provides details on the scripts to curate, process, and train DL models. The scripts can easily be modified to train on databases generated by other popular open-source simulators such as PFLOTRAN, STOMP, TOUGH, and GEOSX or commercial software such as ResFrac and COMSOL.
This data set includes the numerical modeling input files and output files used to synthesize data, and the reduced-order machine learning models trained from the synthesized data for reservoir thermal energy storage site identification. In this study, a machine-learning-assisted computational framework is presented to identify High-Temperature Reservoir Thermal Energy Storage (HT-RTES) site with optimal performance metrics by combining physics-based simulation with stochastic hydrogeologic formation and thermal energy storage operation parameters, artificial neural network regression of the simulation data, and genetic algorithm-enabled multi-objective optimization. A doublet well configuration with a layered (aquitard-aquifer-aquitard) generic reservoir is simulated for cases of continuous operation and seasonal-cycle operation scenarios. Neural network-based surrogate models are developed for the two scenarios and applied to generate the Pareto fronts of the HT-RTES performance for four potential HT-RTES sites. The developed Pareto optimal solutions indicate the performance of HT-RTES is operation-scenario (i.e., fluid cycle) and reservoir-site dependent, and the performance metrics have competing effects for a given site and a given fluid cycle. The developed neural network models can be applied to identify suitable sites for HT-RTES, and the proposed framework sheds light on the design of resilient HT-RTES systems. All the simulations and the neural network model were done by Idaho National Laboratory. A detailed description of the work was reported in publication linked below.