Uncertainty Analysis of Geothermal Well Drilling Costs
Researcher: Rachel Silverman
Principal Investigator: Professor Jefferson Tester
This project will identify the most influential variables in geothermal well drilling costs and characterize the range and distribution of these variables to determine the overall uncertainty in the cost of drilling a geothermal well. Through partnerships with several companies in the geothermal drilling industry, including drilling contractors and material suppliers, I will obtain real well cost data, which will be compared against EGS simulations performed in Wellcost Lite. The resulting distribution of costs will be analyzed using @RISK to determine the overall uncertainty as a function of well depth. The outcomes of this project will be an update of previous well cost curves and the addition of upper and lower boundary curves delineating the range of uncertainty.
