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Life Cycle Water Consumption and Water Resource Assessment for Utility-Scale Geothermal Systems: An In-Depth Analysis of Historical and Forthcoming EGS Projects

Published by Argonne National Laboratory | Department of Energy | Metadata Last Checked: January 27, 2026 | Last Modified: 2017-05-26T15:50:13Z
This report is the third in a series of reports sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy Geothermal Technologies Program in which a range of water-related issues surrounding geothermal power production are evaluated. The first report made an initial attempt at quantifying the life cycle fresh water requirements of geothermal power-generating systems and explored operational and environmental concerns related to the geochemical composition of geothermal fluids. The initial analysis of life cycle fresh water consumption of geothermal power-generating systems identified that operational water requirements consumed the vast majority of water across the life cycle. However, it relied upon limited operational water consumption data and did not account for belowground operational losses for enhanced geothermal systems (EGSs). A second report presented an initial assessment of fresh water demand for future growth in utility-scale geothermal power generation. The current analysis builds upon this work to improve life cycle fresh water consumption estimates and incorporates regional water availability into the resource assessment to improve the identification of areas where future growth in geothermal electricity generation may encounter water challenges.

Resources

11 resources available

  • ANL_EVS_R-12_8_Final.pdf

    PDF
  • Appendix B - EGS Stimulation Jobs from Literature.xlsx

    XLSX
  • Appendix D1 - Geothermal Production Injection and Permit Data.xlsx

    XLSX
  • Appendix D2 - Aboveground Operational Water Consumption in Geothermal Power Plants.xlsx

    XLSX
  • Table 2 - Water Requirements for Observation Well Drilling.xlsx

    XLSX
  • Table 3 - Water Requirements for Exploration Well Drilling.xlsx

    XLSX
  • Table 4 - Water Requirements for Production and Injection Well Drilling.xlsx

    XLSX
  • Table 5 - Summary of Water-Based Stimulation Activities from Literature.xlsx

    XLSX
  • Table 6 - Chemical Stimulation Projects Found in the Literature.xlsx

    XLSX
  • Table 7 - Flow Test and Circulation Test Water Requirements for EGS.xlsx

    XLSX
  • Table 8 - EGS Operational Losses Belowground.xlsx

    XLSX

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