Two scientific geothermal wells being plugged and abandoned in Hawaii
Video footage of Puna Geothermal plant in Hawaii (source: screenshot KiTV)
Alexander Richter
5 Dec 2016
Two scientific geothermal wells are being plugged and abandoned in Pahoa, near the geothermal power plant of Puna Geothermal Venture on the Island of Hawaii.
Reported locally, two scientific geothermal wells will be plugged and abandoned in Pahoa near the Puna geothermal power plant of Puna Geotheraml Venture (Ormat) on the island of Hawai‘i.
The Department of Land and Natural Resources has contracted Water Resources International to plug and abandon SOH-1 and SOH-2 located.
The two wells were drilled back in 1991 for research purposes and aimed to monitor temperature gradients down the shafts. The two wells are now no longer being used by the University of Hawaii or the Department of Land and Natural Resources for monitoring purposes and therefore it was decided to plug and abandon those wells.
Initial site clearing and preparations are now ongoing at the site of SOH-1, and around December 12, work will begin on plugging the well and restoring the area, with SOH-2 to follow in a similar manner.
The project is expected to be completed in approximately 3 months. The contract award amount for the plugging and abandonment of the two wells was $2,036,000.
Source: khon2
