Pauzhetsky geothermal field

The development of the Pauzhetsky geothermal field located in the Kamchatka Peninsula of Far East Russia started in 1960. In 1966, a 5 MWe power plant was put into operation, which was replaced in 2006 by a new 6 MWe unit. The first reservoir engineering studies of the field (Piip,1965; Sugrobov, 1970) revealed a liquid-dominated reservoir in layered tuffs at temperatures of 170–190 °C, with hot springs discharges at 31 kg/s. The first 10 years of exploitation at a total mass rate of 160–190 kg/s showed a gradual temperature decline and chloride dilution in the fluids produced by wells located near the natural discharge area. Consequently, new exploration and development wells were drilled, and exploitation gradually shifted away from the natural discharge area until fluid temperatures of 200–220 °C were reached. Production wells were drilled into a central upflow zone located 1.5–2.0 km southeast of the old production field. The drop in temperatures and enthalpies continued, while the total mass flow rate reached 220–260 kg/s between 1975 and 2006. iTOUGH2 inverse modelling (2008) help verify the conceptual hydrogeological model of the system, to identify key parameters, and to obtain more reliable parameter estimates and subsequent predictions. The TOUGH2 forward and iTOUGH2 inverse modelling codes were used to calibrate a model of the Pauzhetsky geothermal field based on natural-state and 1960–2006 exploitation data. We identified and estimated key model parameters, i.e. geothermal reservoir fracture porosity, initial natural upflow, base-layer porosity and the permeabilities of the hydraulic windows in the upper layer of the model (Kiryukhin et. al., 2008).

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