Virginia Administrative Code › Title 4 - CONSERVATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES › Agency 25 - DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY › Chapter 170 - GEOTHERMAL ENERGY REGULATIONS › Section 4VAC25-170-10 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 40, No. 24, July 15, 2024
The following words and terms when used in this chapter shall
				  have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates
				  otherwise:
"Bottom hole temperature" means the highest temperature
				  measured in the well or bore hole. It is normally attained directly adjacent to
				  the producing zone, and commonly at or near the bottom of the borehole.
"Casing" means all pipe set in wells.
"Conservation" means the preservation of geothermal resources
				  from loss, waste, or harm.
"Correlative rights" means the mutual right of each overlying
				  owner in a geothermal area to produce without waste a just and equitable share
				  of the geothermal resources. Just and equitable shares shall be apportioned
				  according to a ratio of the overlying acreage in a tract to the total acreage
				  included in the geothermal area.
"Department" means the Virginia Department of Energy.
"Designated agent" means that person appointed by the owner
				  or operator of any geothermal resource well to represent him.
"Director" means the Director of the Department of Energy or
				  his authorized agent.
"Division director" means the Director of the Division of Gas
				  and Oil, also known as the Gas and Oil Inspector as defined in the Virginia Gas
				  and Oil Act of 1990, Chapter 16 (§ 45.2-1600 et seq.) of Title 45.2 of the
				  Code of Virginia or his authorized agent.
"Drilling log" means the written record progressively
				  describing all strata, water, minerals, geothermal resources, pressures, rate
				  of fill-up, fresh and salt water-bearing horizons and depths, caving strata,
				  casing records and such other information as is usually recorded in the normal
				  procedure of drilling. The term shall also include the downhole geophysical
				  survey records or logs if any are made.
"Exploratory well" means an existing well or a well drilled
				  solely for temperature observation purposes preliminary to filing an
				  application for a production or injection well permit.
"Geothermal area" means the general land area that is
				  underlaid or reasonably appears to be underlaid by geothermal resources in a
				  single reservoir, pool, or other source or interrelated sources, as such area
				  or areas may be from time to time designated by the department.
"Geothermal energy" means the usable energy produced or that
				  can be produced from geothermal resources.
"Geothermal reservoir" means the rock, strata, or fractures
				  within the earth from which natural or injected geothermal fluids are
				  obtained.
"Geothermal resource" means the natural heat of the earth at
				  temperatures 70°F or above with volumetric rates of 100 gallons per minute
				  or greater and the energy, in whatever form, present in, associated with, or
				  created by, or that may be extracted from, that natural heat. This definition
				  does not include ground heat or groundwater resources at lower temperatures and
				  rates that may be used in association with heat pump installations.
"Geothermal waste" means any loss or escape of geothermal
				  energy, including, but not limited to:
1. Underground loss resulting from the inefficient,
				  excessive, or improper use or dissipation of geothermal energy; or the
				  locating, spacing, construction, equipping, operating, or producing of any well
				  in a manner that results, or tends to result, in reducing the quantity of
				  geothermal energy to be recovered from any geothermal area in Virginia;
				  provided, however, that unavoidable dissipation of geothermal energy resulting
				  from oil and gas exploration and production shall not be construed to be
				  geothermal waste.
2. The inefficient above-ground transportation and storage of
				  geothermal energy; and the locating, spacing, equipping, operating, or
				  producing of any well or injection well in a manner causing or tending to
				  cause, unnecessary or excessive surface loss or destruction of geothermal
				  energy.
3. The escape into the open air of steam or hot water in
				  excess of what is reasonably necessary in the efficient development or
				  production of a well.
"Geothermal well" means any well drilled for the discovery or
				  production of geothermal resources, any well reasonably presumed to contain
				  geothermal resources, or any special well, converted producing well, or
				  reactivated or converted abandoned well employed for reinjecting geothermal
				  resources.
"Injection well" means a well drilled or converted for the
				  specific use of injecting waste geothermal fluids back into a geothermal
				  production zone for disposal, reservoir pressure maintenance, or augmentation
				  of reservoir fluids.
"Monitoring well" means a well used to measure the effects of
				  geothermal production on the quantity and quality of a potable groundwater
				  aquifer.
"Operator" means any person drilling, maintaining, operating,
				  producing, or in control of any well, and shall include the owner when any well
				  is operated or has been operated or is about to be operated by or under the
				  direction of the owner.
"Owner" means the overlying property owner or lessee who has
				  the right to drill into, produce, and appropriate from any geothermal
				  area.
"Permit" means a document issued by the department pursuant
				  to this chapter for the construction and operation of any geothermal
				  exploration, production, or injection well.
"Person" means any individual natural person, general or
				  limited partnership, joint venture, association, cooperative organization,
				  corporation whether domestic or foreign, agency or subdivision of this or any
				  other state or the federal government, any municipal or quasi-municipal entity
				  whether or not it is incorporated, receiver, trustee, guardian, executor,
				  administrator, fiduciary, or representative of any kind.
"Production casing" means the main casing string which
				  protects the sidewalls of the well against collapse and conducts geothermal
				  fluid to the surface.
"Production record" means written accounts of a geothermal
				  well's volumetric rate, pressure and temperature, and geothermal fluid
				  quality.
"Sequential utilization" means application of the geothermal
				  resource to a use with the highest heat need and the subsequent channeling of
				  the resource to other uses with lower temperature requirements before injection
				  or disposal of the geothermal fluid.
"Unitized drilling operation" means the management of
				  separately owned tracts overlying a geothermal area as a single drilling
				  unit.
"Water protection string" means a string of casing designed
				  to protect groundwater-bearing strata.
Statutory Authority: § 45.2-103 of the Code of
					 Virginia.