TY - DATA AB - Polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) bits are routinely used in the oil and gas industry for drilling medium to hard rock but have not been adopted for geothermal drilling, largely due to past reliability issues and higher purchase costs. The Sandia Geothermal Research Department has recently completed a field demonstration of the applicability of advanced synthetic diamond drill bits for production geothermal drilling. Two commercially-available PDC bits were tested in a geothermal drilling program in the Chocolate Mountains in Southern California. These bits drilled the granitic formations with significantly better Rate of Penetration (ROP) and bit life than the roller cone bit they are compared with. Drilling records and bit performance data along with associated drilling cost savings are presented herein. The drilling trials have demonstrated PDC bit drilling technology has matured for applicability and improvements to geothermal drilling. This will be especially beneficial for development of Enhanced Geothermal Systems whereby resources can be accessed anywhere within the continental US by drilling to deep, hot resources in hard, basement rock formations. AU - Knudsen, Steven AU - Raymond, David AU - Blankenship, Doug AU - Bjornstad, Steve AU - Barbour, Joel AU - Schen, Aaron DB - Geothermal Data Repository DP - Open EI | National Renewable Energy Laboratory DO - 10.15121/1225980 KW - geothermal KW - chocolate mountains KW - drilling KW - pdc bit KW - roller cone KW - granite KW - chocolate mountains drilling KW - synthetic diamond KW - rate of penetration KW - egs KW - lateral vibration spectrum KW - California KW - CA KW - Southern California KW - SoCal KW - drilling records KW - performance data KW - drilling charts KW - before and after KW - pictures KW - vibration spectrum LA - English DA - 2012/01/01 PY - 2012 PB - Sandia National Laboratories T1 - Technology Development and Field Trials of EGS Drilling Systems at Chocolate Mountain UR - https://doi.org/10.15121/1225980 ER -