Geothermics 39 (2010) 382–390

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Geothermics
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/geothermics

Sustainability of the Hatchobaru geothermal field, Japan

Tetsuya Yahara, Hiroyuki Tokita ∗
Geothermal Department, West Japan Engineering Consultants, Inc., Fukuoka 810-0004, Japan

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The Hatchobaru power plant Unit No. 1 (55 MW) has been operating since 1977 and Unit No. 2 (55 MW)
Received 29 May 2009 since 1990. The mean capacity factor of the power plant has reached about 90%. Considering that the
Accepted 1 September 2010 long-term operation of the plant, over 30 years for Unit No. 1 and nearly 20 years for Unit No. 2, has been
Available online 27 October 2010
maintained with such a high capacity factor, sustainable development in terms of economic production
has been achieved. To maintain a stable operation, systematic reservoir monitoring and reservoir simu-
Keywords:
lation studies have been conducted. The monitoring of changes in reservoir pressure, temperature and
Geothermal
gravity indicates that the reservoir is currently approaching a stable state. Results of a simulation study
Hatchobaru
Reservoir monitoring
suggest that the sustainable power output of the Hatchobaru reservoir is approximately 120 MW, and
Reservoir simulation each productive fault has the capacity to produce enough steam to generate from 11 to 55 MW. Therefore,
Reservoir management it would be possible to maintain the rated power output of 110 MW by optimizing well alignments so
Sustainability that the mass production can be kept within the sustainable productivity of each fault, and the injected
Japan water does not cool the production zones.
© 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

1. Introduction two-phase pipelines from wellheads to independent separators

The Hatchobaru geothermal field is located in central Kyushu,
Japan. The power plant started commercial operation in 1977 (Unit
No. 1, 55 MW), and in 1990, its total capacity was expanded by
adding a second unit of 55 MW. The total rated power output of
110 MW makes Hatchobaru the largest geothermal plant in Japan;
its double-flash system was the first one in the world. The primary
turbine inlet pressures are 0.6 MPa and 0.7 MPa for Units 1 and 2,
respectively. Secondary pressure at the flasher is about 0.1 MPa.
Wellhead pressure of production wells averages 0.8 MPa. Separated
water and excess condensate are injected in to the reservoir at
about 90 ◦ C and at atmospheric pressure.
Fig. 1 depicts the Hatchobaru geothermal field. The reservoir is
water-dominated with temperatures in the range of 240–300 ◦ C
and the underground fluid movement is strongly controlled by
faults. The fluids supplied to the power facilities are tapped from
depths of between 1000 m and 2300 m. These fluids reside in five
main productive faults: Komatsuike fault, Komatsuike sub-fault,
NE3 fault, NE4 fault and Hatchobaru fault. The total mass extrac-
tion rate from the reservoir (20 production wells) is currently about
700 kg/s and the rate of total mass injection (15 injection wells) is
about 500 kg/s. Currently, the northern sector of the field is used
for injection and the southern sector for production. The fluids
necessary to drive each of the units are transported through two
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +81 92 781 2835; fax: +81 92 751 5044.
E-mail address: tokita@wjec.co.jp (H. Tokita).
located in the plant area. The two pipeline networks are connected
near the power plant to allow part of the fluids from the wells sup-
plying Unit No. 2 to flow into the pipeline network for Unit No.
1. Unit No. 1 has been in operation for 32 years and Unit No. 2
for 19 years. The mean capacity factor of the power plant reached
about 88% in fiscal year 2007, indicating stable plant operation. Con-
sidering the development area of the Hatchobaru field, the power
density is estimated to be around 37 MW/km2 , which is much
higher than many other geothermal fields in the world (Tokita et
al., 2006b).
2. Reservoir management
From 1990 to 1994 i.e., within 4 years of the commissioning
of Unit No. 2 a significant power decline from 110 MW to 80 MW
was experienced (see Fig. 2). After the commencement of Unit
No. 2 operation, the trend of power output can be classified into
three periods: (A) a decline caused by the decrease of mass flow
from production wells and lower capacity of the injection wells,
(B) a recovery caused by the drilling of additional production and
injection wells, and (C) a stable period (Saito et al., 2006). In the
decline period, integrated reservoir management consisting of sys-
tematic reservoir monitoring and a reservoir simulation study was
undertaken in order to define the best approach for recovering and
maintaining the power output.
Fig. 3 shows the history of integrating reservoir simulation tech-
nologies and systematic monitoring for reservoir management that
has been adopted for more than 20 years in the Hatchobaru field to

0375-6505/$ – see front matter © 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

doi:10.1016/j.geothermics.2010.09.001
 T. Yahara, H. Tokita / Geothermics 39 (2010) 382–390
Fig. 1. The Hatchobaru geothermal field; the filled square in the inset shows the location of the geothermal field. The contours in the background denote the local ground
surface elevation in meters above sea level.
Figure modified from Yahara et al. (2006).
Fig. 2. Power output at the Hatchobaru power plant.
Figure modified from Thermal and Nuclear Power Engineering Society (2008).
maintain the rated power output. Reservoir management is based
on reservoir monitoring and computer simulations that are con-
ducted periodically to recalibrate the reservoir model and to ensure
an accurate forecast of future performance of the reservoir and its
production characteristics.
Fig. 3. Reservoir management for the Hatchobaru field (Tokita et al., 2006b).
383
To predict the future power output of the plant, a numeri-
cal simulation technology has been developed in which reservoir,
wellbore, and transportation pipeline models are coupled. Fluid
transport and changes in the characteristics of the reservoir are
calculated using the reservoir simulator TOUGH2 (Pruess, 1991;
Pruess et al., 1999). The reservoir simulator is coupled to a multifeed
wellbore simulator (MULFEWS) that calculates fluid flow within the
wellbore and reservoir assuming radial flow from a homogeneous
porous reservoir around each of the feed zones (Tokita and Itoi,
2004; Tokita et al., 2005b). These two simulators are then coupled
to a two-phase pipeline flow simulator (TPGS) that calculates pres-
sure drops within the pipeline network from wellheads to main
separators (Lima et al., 2004; Tokita et al., 2005a, 2006b). Mass
and energy transport can therefore be calculated from the reser-
voirs to the turbines to predict the future performance. In addition,
this can improve the accuracy of forecasts compared to models
that couple only the reservoir and wellbore simulators, because
the effect of changes in wellhead pressures of production wells on
pressure distribution in pipelines can be calculated. The coupled
approach to reservoir simulation has contributed to a stable power
plant operation and to a sustainable reservoir management.
3. Reservoir monitoring
To aid in reservoir management, monitoring of changes in reser-
voir pressure, temperature, gravity, chemical characteristics of
discharged fluids and tracer behavior has been periodically con-
ducted. Monitoring of gravity changes has been carried out since
1990 covering most of the Hatchobaru exploitation area. Gravity
measurements are carried out using a Sintrex CG-3 gravimeter
(Tagomori et al., 1996). Fig. 4 shows downhole pressure measured
at observation well 2H-11, and gravity measured at the gravity
monitoring point GM36. The well 2H-11 is located in the south-
ern part of the production zone, and the gravity monitoring point
GM36 in the southeastern part of the production zone. It can be
observed that both the pressure and gravity gradually decreased
384 T. Yahara, H. Tokita / Geothermics 39 (2010) 382–390
Fig. 4. Comparison between pressure changes in 2H-11 observation well and gravity
changes at GM36 (Saito et al., 2006).
after the commencement of the Unit No. 2 operation, with the
changes becoming more moderate around 2000. Good correlations
are observed between the changes in pressure and gravity. It is
considered that the gravity is affected by changes in mass, which
occur due to production and injection operations (Saito et al., 2006).
Reservoir pressure is also related to mass inflows into and outflows
from the geothermal reservoir. Downhole monitoring of changes in
the reservoir pressure and temperature has been conducted contin-
uously since 1988 using capillary tubing systems that are installed
in several observation wells. Results of pressure monitoring indi-
cate that a complicated change in pressure usually occurs due to
fluid production and injection during the plant operation (Tsuru
and Tokita, 1994). A pressure drawdown of more than 0.5 MPa in
the production zones for Unit No. 2 was detected soon after this
unit commenced commercial operation. The reservoir pressure also
declined by 0.4 MPa in the production zones for Unit No. 1, and
propagated into the corresponding injection zones.
Although the reservoir temperature had already decreased as a
consequence of the injection since Unit No. 1 commenced opera-
tion, the temperature decrease accelerated after the commissioning
of Unit No. 2 due to the increased return of injected water to the pro-
duction zones of both units. Results of tracer tests indicate that the
injected water partially returns to the production zones through
faults, and that the rapid return from some injection wells is the
cause of the steep temperature decline.
The temporal and spatial changes in reservoir temperature
are estimated by applying the silica, Na–K and Na–K–Ca geother-
mometers and the results of chemical analyses of discharged fluids
sampled from production wells every 6 months (Asai, 2002). The
increase in chloride (Cl) concentration in the discharged fluid
also suggested that the decline in temperature (and hence power
output) was due to a large inflow of injected water of high Cl con-
centration into the production zone. Fig. 5 shows changes over time
in silica temperature and Cl concentration of the fluids discharged
from well H-13 that is located along the Komatsuike-sub fault in the
Fig. 5. Changes over time in silica temperature and chloride concentration in fluids
produced from well H-13.
Figure modified from Asai (2002).
center of the production zone for Unit No. 1. After the commence-
ment of Unit No. 2 operation, the silica temperature decreased by
40 ◦ C within 5 years, and the chloride concentration increased by
500 mg/l due to the increasing migration of injected water into
the well. Since then, the silica temperature has approached a sta-
ble value, and the chloride concentration has gradually decreased.
The decrease of the chloride concentration suggests that shallower
water of low chloride concentration around the well migrated into
the well; the migration was accelerated by the pressure drawdown
that occurred after the commencement of Unit No. 2. Relocation
of injection wells and drilling of make-up production wells in the
southeastern area where pressure drawdown and injected water
returns occurred helped in recovering the power output of the
plant. The power output since 1997 has been above 90 MW.
Design and development of a proper injection system that min-
imizes the temperature decline in production wells and secures
the injection capacity is of great importance for sustainable plant
operation. Investigation and monitoring have been conducted at
both newly drilled and operating production and injection wells.
For instance, analysis of cuttings, temperature logs, injection tests,
production logs, and tracer tests have been conducted for newly
drilled wells. In addition, the monitoring of wellhead pressures and
two-phase flow rates of production wells, flow rates of injection
wells, downhole pressures and temperatures in observation wells,
steam flow rates, water flow rates and specific enthalpies of dis-
charged fluids and chemical analyses of gas, steam and water have
been conducted for the operating wells (Yahara et al., 2006). These
data provide the basic information for diagnosing the causes for
declines in productivity or injectivity of wells.
Productivity declines of wells were analyzed to understand
the causal mechanisms. For example, the pressure interference
between production wells tapping the reservoir along the Hatcho-
baru fault was induced by overproduction (Yahara et al., 2008).
Another example is that periodic fluctuations in mass productivity
that occurred in the production well H-30 located near the injec-
tion zones were caused by an increase in injection flow rate; this
indicated the need for a reduction in the injection flow rate (Yahara
et al., 2005).
After a decline in power output started in 1990, injection wells
were drilled in the reservoir along the Komatsuike fault away
from the production area to minimize the influence of injected
water upon the production wells. In addition, side-track drilling
of injection wells that lost injectivity due to silica deposition in
the formation was carried out for recovery of injection capacity.
The injection capacity, however, did not increase because of pres-
sure interference between injection wells. The change of water
 T. Yahara, H. Tokita / Geothermics 39 (2010) 382–390
Fig. 6. Change of water level in the injection area (Yahara et al., 2006).
level in the injection wells after drilling or workover is shown in
Fig. 6.
The water level in the well tapped in the reservoir along the
Komatsuike fault began rising in 1992 and reached its highest point
in 2002. This rise of water level implies that the injection flow rate to
this reservoir exceeds its injection capacity. Therefore, it was con-
cluded that to secure injection capacity, other injection zones that
did not affect the existing injection zones needed to be developed.
Based on this idea, side-track drilling of injection wells that targeted
deeper zones along the Komatsuike fault began in 2003. The use
of these side-tracked boreholes has led to a water level decline of
about 100 m in the original reservoir, confirming the effectiveness
of the strategy for securing injection capacity.
4. Reservoir model
Fig. 7 shows a model of the geothermal system of the Hatcho-
baru geothermal field. The Hatchobaru field is situated in the
Fig. 7. Model of the Hatchobaru Geothermal Field (Momita et al., 2000).
385
southwestern margin of the Kuju-Beppu graben, which is a low-
gravity anomaly zone. However, the graben is characterized by
positive gravity anomalies in some areas, reflecting the existence of
horst structures within it (Tamanyu, 1993). The Hatchobaru area is
located in a positive gravity anomaly zone, which is a horst adjacent
to the Shishimuta depression zone. The geologic column is divided
into four units, Kuju volcanic rocks (Middle-Upper Pleistocene),
Hohi volcanic rocks (Lower Pleistocene), Usa group (Miocene) and
basement rocks (pre-Tertiary), in descending order (Fujino and
Yamasaki, 1985).
The interpretation of fluid isotope data indicates that the
geothermal fluids are derived almost entirely from meteoric water.
The recharge zone is considered to be located around the south part
of Mt. Kuroiwa. Here, the meteoric water flows downward through
the faults and through the related high-angle fracture networks
associated with the boundary rim of the Shishimuta depression
zone. The meteoric water permeating into the deeper zone changes
its chemical composition through water/rock interactions and is
heated up to about 300 ◦ C by a heat source related to the Quaternary
volcanism. The heat source of the area is considered to correspond
to a residual magma chamber beneath Mt. Kuroiwa, where the heat
source produces enough conductive heat to increase the tempera-
ture at the top of the granitic basement to 300–350 ◦ C (Momita et
al., 2000). The heated fluids then migrate upward through the per-
meable passages associated with the Komatsuike fault (Shimada
et al., 1994; Shimada and Fujino, 1995). Several isotope indices
such as B/Cl, As/Cl and 87 Sr/86 Sr suggest that the deep geother-
mal fluids ascend through the Tertiary Hohi volcanic rocks and the
Usa group which overlie the granitic basement. Other geothermal
reservoirs within the granitic basement have been confirmed by
the wells drilled in the southwestern part of the Hatchobaru area.
The B/Cl and 87 Sr/86 Sr ratios are quite distinct from those of the
above-mentioned fluids. There is sufficient evidence to suggest that
the parental fluid of the present production zones in the Hatcho-
386 T. Yahara, H. Tokita / Geothermics 39 (2010) 382–390
Fig. 8. Plan view of the grid used to model the Hatchobaru Geothermal Field (Tokita et al., 2006a).
baru field is stored in deep zones beneath Mt. Kuroiwa. However,
we believe that this deep reservoir, even lying within the granitic
basement rocks, supplies the hydrothermal system with hot flu-
ids through migration along the Hohi volcanic rocks and Usa group
which are overlying the granitic basement rocks (Momita et al.,
2000).
The numerical model of the reservoir covers 16.5 km2
(3.70 km × 4.45 km) as shown in Fig. 8. In the vertical direction,
the top and bottom of the numerical model correspond to eleva-
tions of about 1100 m above sea level and 1400 m below sea level,
respectively. The 2500 m of total model thickness is divided into
nine layers with layer thicknesses ranging from 100 to 400 m. The
top two layers are designed to represent the topography. The total
number of grid blocks is 7425. The boundary conditions and dis-
tribution of rock properties such as density, porosity, permeability,
etc. were varied in a trial-and-error calibration process to repro-
duce the temporal pressure and temperature changes during plant
operation. In addition, temporal changes in the fluid density and the
fluid behavior in the model were constrained by the corresponding
changes in gravity over time and tracer behavior. The fracture mod-
eling technique, called the Multiple Interacting Continua (MINC)
method (Pruess, 1991), was applied for modeling faults represent-
ing the dominant fluid flow pattern.
Fig. 9 shows simulated temperature distributions and the zone
containing injected water for years 1984, 1991, 1998 and 2005.
This figure indicates that the injected water zone expanded dra-
matically after the commissioning of Unit No. 2 in 1990, and the
size of the zone increased further from 1991 to 1998. Although the
propagation of the injected water front will continue in the future
at deep levels, the cooling effects are believed to be smaller than
when injection was conducted at shallower levels. This is because,
which is actually corroborated by the monitored silica tempera-
ture (Tokita et al., 2000), temperature of injected water increases
as it migrates toward production zones at deep levels. Compar-
ing the simulated temperature distributions in 1998 and 2005, it
appears that the degree of cooling in the production zone has been
mitigated.
5. Reservoir sustainability
When the power output declined significantly after commis-
sioning Unit No. 2, several numerical case studies were conducted
using the reservoir simulator to understand the reason for this rapid
power decline, and to evaluate the sustainable power output. The
results suggest that the average pressure drawdown in the produc-
tion zones for Unit No. 2 and Unit No. 1 is 0.9 MPa and 0.5–0.7 MPa,
respectively. These pressure changes occurred within 3 years of
Unit No. 2 commissioning, because of an increase of the mass
extraction from 420 kg/s to 560 kg/s (Kawazoe and Tokita, 1993).
In addition, the model showed that to mitigate cooling effects, the
most appropriate location for injection would be a distance of more
than 500 m from the production zones (Tokita et al., 1995) There-
fore, injection was relocated to the northwest to maintain sufficient
distance from production zones. The power output was predicted
to decline to around 80 MW within 8 years if make-up production
wells were not drilled. The mass flow rate tapped from the NE3
fault was predicted to decline and the corresponding power output
to fall from 43 MW at that time to around 24 MW before attaining
stabilization, while that for other four productive faults showed
only a slight decline. Thus, the sustainable power potential of the
NE3 fault is inferred to be around 24 MW (Tokita and Haruguchi,
1998).
Because the Hatchobaru reservoir is considered to mainly con-
sist of five productive faults (Fig. 1), the sustainable power potential
of the reservoirs can be approximately evaluated by integrating that
of each productive fault. The Komatsuike-sub fault and Hatchobaru
 T. Yahara, H. Tokita / Geothermics 39 (2010) 382–390
Fig. 9. Simulated temperature distribution and the zone containing injected water (Tokita et al., 2000).
fault currently have more or less stable to slight overproduction
conditions. However, the sustainable power output of the Komat-
suike and NE4 faults is unknown. Accordingly, a numerical case
study was conducted assuming additional production wells in all
productive faults except the NE3 fault. Three scenarios were con-
sidered in which a total of 17, 26 and 31 make-up production
wells were assumed to produce from these faults. Both the number
of wells and the spacing between them (100–200 m) were speci-
fied regardless of the actual number of wells that could be drilled
from the existing drilling pads. These scenarios showed that the
simulated total power output temporally reached 190–265 MW,
depending on the number of assumed make-up wells; however, in
all three scenarios a power decline was experienced until it sta-
bilized at around 120 MW, as shown in Fig. 10. The production
period is 9 years, which may not be sufficient to determine the sus-
tainable potential. Since a smaller number of make-up wells than
Fig. 10. Prediction of sustainable power output of the Hatchobaru Geothermal Field
(Tokita et al., 2000, 2006b).
387
assumed in this case study are required to maintain nearly 120 MW
from beginning of the calculation, it will be easy to sustain around
120 MW over 9 years. Therefore, it is suggested that the sustain-
able power potential of the Hatchobaru reservoirs is approximately
120 MW. It will also be possible to maintain the rated power out-
put of 110 MW if the targets for production make-up wells were
selected in such way as not to overproduce the faults beyond their
sustainable power potential (Tokita et al., 2000, 2006b).
Fig. 11 shows the sustainable power potential of each of the five
productive faults, which ranges from 11 to 55 MW. It was also found
that concentrating replacement wells into a particular fault should
be avoided in order to maintain the balance of mass production. The
simulated results showed that the rated power output of 110 MW
could be sustained with make-up wells drilled in the productive
faults and operated at mass extraction rates that do not exceed
Fig. 11. The sustainable power potential of each of the productive faults.
Figure modified from Tokita and Haruguchi (1998).
388 T. Yahara, H. Tokita / Geothermics 39 (2010) 382–390
Fig. 12. Changes in the reservoir deduced from the results of gravity monitoring: (a) before commencement of Unit No. 2 operation, (b) immediately after commencement
of the Unit No. 2 operation, (c) initial decline period, (d) recovery period (e) second decline period, and (f) relatively stable period.
Modified from Saito et al. (2006).
their sustainable production potentials. The simulated results show
that geothermal fluids are continuously supplied by injection and
influx from lateral boundaries. The computed mass inflows from
these sources are 46% and 48% of the produced mass, respectively.
Thus, the mass deficit due to production is estimated as only 6%
of the produced mass, which indicates that the mass balance is
approximately maintained (Tokita et al., 2006b).
The gravity changes also indicate that underground mass in the
production area is likely to have stabilized in recent years. Measure-
ments of gravity and pressure indicate a close correlation between
variations of these two parameters. Therefore, the gravity changes
are considered to reflect the changes in reservoir mass behavior.
Fig. 12 summarizes changes in the reservoir deduced from the
results of gravity monitoring (Saito et al., 2006). In this figure, pres-
sures changes in production and injection zones are represented as
variations in the water level for the periods (a) before commence-
ment of Unit No. 2 operation, (b) immediately after commencement
of the Unit No. 2 operation, (c) initial decline period, (d) recovery
period, (e) second decline period and (f) relatively stable period.
The water level rose due to increased injection mass flow rate in
the injection zone and began to fall due to increased production
mass flow rate in the production zone in period (b). The water
level fell over a wide area in period (c) because of the effects of
pressure drawdown that resulted from the increase of production
mass flow rate. The pressure drawdown in the reservoirs caused
the power output to decline to around 80–90 MW. The water level
began to recover during period (d) and the power output recovered
to around 100 MW by the addition of make-up wells and relocation
of injection wells to mitigate cooling in the production zone. There-
after, the water level fell again in the production zone in period (e).
Mitigation of cooling and pressure drawdown, and the approximate
mass balance in the reservoirs was attained in period (f). The gravity
changes from early 2000 to late 2001 in period (f) showed a small
range of −20 to 50 ␮gal. The gravity change in the injection area was
small compared to that in the production area, where the gravity
widely reduced by around 10 ␮gal. However, this gravity change in
the production area had already slowed, reflecting the stabilizing
reservoir pressure in this period. According to the results of a quasi-
three-dimensional inversion of the gravity changes from 1994 to
2000, the underground mass in the production area is likely to have
stabilized in recent years (Saito et al., 2006). According to Ehara and
Nishijima (2004), the repeat gravity measurements can be used to
estimate the mass recharge in the reservoirs during exploitation
of the Hatchobaru geothermal field. The mass balance estimate
based on change in gravity suggests that fluid recharge together
with injection is approximately equal to the produced mass.
On average, the specific enthalpy in the reservoirs is predicted to
decrease in the next 5 years by 3.3 kJ/kg/y, equivalent to a temper-
ature drop of about 0.8 ◦ C per year. This rate of temperature drop
is in agreement with the recorded changes in silica temperatures
of existing wells (e.g., well H-13, as shown in Fig. 5). Accordingly, it
is predicted that the power output will slightly decrease with time
due to cooling of the production zones. Considering constraints for
expansion of the development area (it is only a few km2 in size,
and because of the national park that surrounds the Hatchobaru
field further expansion is not allowed), it is very difficult to com-
pletely avoid migration of injected water into the production zones
in the current development area. What should be done, therefore, to
minimize the cooling in the production zones, is to optimize the dis-
tribution of injected water in the reservoirs. Based on appropriate
reservoir management, it will be possible to keep the present power
output stable by adding a make-up well every 1 or 2 years, which is
economically acceptable (Tokita et al., 2006b). According to Rybach
and Mongillo (2006), in relation to geothermal resources, especially
to their exploitation, sustainability means the ability to sustain the
production level over long times. Therefore, sustainable produc-
 T. Yahara, H. Tokita / Geothermics 39 (2010) 382–390
Fig. 13. Optimum alignment of make-up production and injection wells (Tokita et al., 2006b). Alignment is not evident, zones are. Detected concentration ratio of fluorescein
and 1,5-naphthalens disulufonate (−).
tion of geothermal energy secures the longevity of the resources at
an appropriate production level. We think that an appropriate pro-
duction level should be economically acceptable. This means that
make-up wells are allowed to be added to maintain the appropriate
production level as long as the costs for drilling them are accept-
able in terms of economical exploitation, even if mass and energy
balances in the reservoirs have not strictly been attained. From this
view point, the exploitation conditions of the Hatchobaru reser-
voirs are sustainable under the present mass production rate and
well locations.
Fig. 13 shows the basic design for the optimized alignment of
make-up production and injection wells. Simulation results indi-
cate that the entire reservoir can be classified into three regions
in terms of production decline: a region where pressure draw-
down has been caused by production; a region where the reservoirs
have been cooled due to excessive invasion of injected water;
and a region suffering from both pressure drawdown and cool-
ing. Although these impacts to the reservoirs still remain, reservoir
management based on coupled simulations successfully makes
their impact small. Basic strategy for the sustainable development
is to avoid and to mitigate overproduction and cooling in produc-
tion zones. It is, therefore, important to optimize the alignment
of production and injection wells. Make-up production and injec-
tion wells should be placed so as to keep the total mass production
within the sustainable productivity of each fault, and to ensure that
the injected water does not migrate into production zones (Tokita
et al., 2006b).
6. Conclusions
The Hatchobaru reservoirs including production faults have
been stably producing water and steam equivalent to 90 MW or
more. Although the reservoirs have been affected by production
and injection, the reservoir pressure, temperature, and gravity
monitoring data indicate small declines in these parameters sug-
gesting that the current exploitation conditions are sustainable.
Assuming that the exploitation depth is limited to around −1400 m
389
above sea level, simulations indicate that the reservoir has a sus-
tainable capacity of about 120 MW. The rated power output of
110 MW could, therefore, be sustained by appropriate location and
operation of wells.
Acknowledgements
We highly appreciate and express our special thanks to the staffs
of the geothermal group and the Hatchobaru power plant of Kyushu
Electric Power Company Inc. for their cooperation in the data pro-
vision and technical advice and for their permission to publish this
paper.
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