Understand and isolate sources of gearbox failures; Improve understanding of internal loads and response; Normal operation and transients; Improve analysis tools to accurately simulate response; Improve ability to reproduce field response in dyno testing; Evaluate how CM augments design and O and M.

Geopressured geothermal reservoirs are characterized by high temperatures and high pressures with correspondingly large quantities of dissolved methane. Due to these characteristics, the reservoirs provide two sources of energy: chemical energy from the recovered methane, and thermal energy from the recovered fluid at temperatures high enough to operate a binary power plant for electricity production. Formations with the greatest potential for recoverable energy are located in the gulf coastal region of Texas and Louisiana where significantly overpressured and hot formations are abundant. This study estimates the total recoverable onshore geopressured geothermal resource for identified sites in Texas and Louisiana. In this study a geopressured geothermal resource is defined as a brine reservoir with fluid temperature greater than 212 degrees F and a pressure gradient greater than 0.7 psi/ft.

This study estimates the magnitude of geothermal energy from fifteen major known US sedimentary basins and ranks these basins relative to their potential. Because most sedimentary basins have been explored for oil and gas, well logs, temperatures at depth, and reservoir properties are known. This reduces exploration risk and allows development of geologic exploration models for each basin as well as a relative assessment of geologic risk elements for each play. The total available thermal resource for each basin was estimated using the volumetric heat-in-place method originally proposed by Muffler (USGS). Total sedimentary thickness maps, stratigraphic columns, cross sections, and temperature gradient Information were gathered for each basin from published articles, USGS reports, and state geological survey reports. When published data was insufficient, thermal gradients and reservoir properties were derived from oil and gas well logs obtained on oil and gas commission websites. Basin stratigraphy, structural history, and groundwater circulation patterns were studied in order to develop a model that estimates resource size and temperature distribution, and to qualitatively assess reservoir productivity.