Utah FORGE

About

Founded in 2016, Utah FORGE is a government headquartered in Salt Lake City, United States specializing in Geothermal.

Utah FORGE (Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy) is a dedicated underground field laboratory sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and managed by the Energy & Geoscience Institute at the University of Utah. The facility comprises a large volume of hot crystalline granite between two deep directionally drilled wells at approximately 8,000 feet depth. The project is designed to develop, test, and optimize methods and techniques for creating, sustaining, and monitoring enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) that can generate electricity from hot rock without requiring natural hot springs. Utah FORGE applies unconventional drilling techniques borrowed from the oil and gas industry, including horizontal drilling and fiber-optic sensors, to unlock geothermal energy potential. The facility includes on-site water, power, offices, and broadband internet infrastructure. Research conducted at Utah FORGE has demonstrated significant advances, including successful drilling of highly deviated deep wells and confirmed connectivity and heat transfer in the stimulated geothermal reservoir. The project aims to establish rigorous, reproducible EGS technical solutions and a commercial pathway for geothermal development anywhere on Earth.

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