Alternative Energy for U.S. Military Installations

Jason R. McKenna¹, Ben Russo², Maria Richards³, Seth W. Broadfoot¹, Lillian D. Wakeley¹, and Thomas Hartranft^4
1ERDC-GSL, US Army Engineer R&D Center, Vicksburg, MS
²Cleco Power LLC, Pineville, LA
³Geothermal Lab, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX
⁴ERDC-CERL, US Army Engineer R&D Center, Champaign, IL

The US Army has a goal to develop a sustainable, diverse, renewable energy portfolio for military facilities worldwide. The US Army Engineer R&D Center (ERDC) and its research partners are addressing this goal by developing alternative energy sources to reduce the Army’s environmental footprint, diversify its energy portfolio, and increase use of zero-emissions geothermal energy. In Gulf Coast states and many areas in the western U.S., thousands of hydrocarbon and some groundwater wells reach depths where temperatures are 120 to 200°C, and yet the Gulf Coast states have few developed geothermal resources. The ERDC team and partners are working with military installations to develop geothermal reservoirs on Dept of Defense lands near existing hydrocarbon fields, to take advantage of the confluence of high temperatures, high-permeability (engineered or otherwise) reservoirs, and high flow rates. At select military installations within the continental U.S., we are demonstrating the use of portable power systems that use heated water (or produced hydrocarbons) to generate 250 kW of electrical power. The system is driven by a simple, closed-loop evaporation process that produces no emissions. The only byproduct after the heat is extracted for power is electricity, since the “fuel” is re-injected into the reservoir for reheating. If this re-injection program is properly managed, a sustainable, renewable power supply is created that is on the order of the lifetime of the installation. The power system can operate using a wide range of resource temperatures starting as low as 74°C. Additional units can be brought on-line quickly, immediately increasing installed capacity. In addition, the system can be configured for either liquid or air cooling to meet site-specific needs.

AAPG Search and Discover Article #90078©2008 AAPG Annual Convention, San Antonio, Texas