ann re olympic dam project, page-14

Hi Tawny,

I'm no expert, and I'm sure you've been researching EGS longer than myself, so I listen to what you and others have discussed here and on the GDY threads. The point you make about flow rate is an important one, and one that can be managed by techniques being developed. The fact that Olympic Dam has been shown to have an ideal stress regime by the CSIRO, with mainly horizontal fractures is very encouraging.
I can see parallels between GRK's OD and the foremost and most advanced EGS project in the world, Soultz in France. They have granites at 5000 m at just over 200 C that they have successfully artificially stimulated and established flow in a HDR system. For anyone wanting to see the project's development their web site is worth looking at, to see all the stages documented. http://www.soultz.net/version-en.htm

That Soultz has progressed so well and is worthy of the amount of funding it is receiving to progress it shows me that Olympic Dam with it's similar depths, temperatures and HDR environment has a lot going for it. And of course being right next to the grid, it can be built in stages so that each stage can help to finance the next without the upfront expense of long distance transmission, greatly reducing the risk exposure of the project.