Research at the Geothermal Rising Conference highlighted the potential of superhot rock geothermal energy, exploring ingenious drilling technologies and the expediency of utilizing energy from miles below the Earths surface. Credit: SciTechDaily.com
Eco-friendly resource has potential to change our energy system.
In an indicator of growing interest in the holy grail of geothermal energy– tapping into the superhot rock miles below our feet– 18 papers on the topic were provided over numerous sessions at a recent significant conference on the general geothermal industry.
” By driving down expenses and making massive geothermal power available almost anywhere, Superhot Rock energy has the possible to revolutionize the energy and interrupt system.” Thats according to a description of the sessions on Technological, Engineering, and Geological Advances in Superhot Geothermal provided at the 2023 Geothermal Rising Conference held over 4 days in October.
” For me, a quite big emphasize of Geothermal Rising 2023 was the increased focus on superhot rock geothermal through multiple discussions from all over the world,” says Matt Houde, co-founder and project supervisor at Quaise Energy.
One of the documents describes work led by researchers from Europe on the first computer simulations of a Superhot Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) reservoir capable of plumbing the energy from more than 6 miles (10-20 km) down where rocks can reach temperatures of more than 752 degrees Fahrenheit (400oC).
The mother lode of geothermal energy is some 2 to 12 miles beneath the Earths surface where the rock is so hot that if water might be pumped to the location it would end up being supercritical, a steam-like stage that the majority of people arent familiar with. He stated, “our designs show that superhot rock improved geothermal systems can accomplish high power output with a small spatial footprint,” or amount of land needed atop the hole. Thats 5-10 times more power than generally produced today from a standard, shallower geothermal system, Houde states, and this improvement in power density could make geothermal competitive with oil and gas.
Particularly, Porlles and coworkers checked out the stability of a wellbore at the depths that Quaise is targeting for superhot rock geothermal energy production.
Houde is a co-author of two documents provided at the conference. Both report on research showing that superhot geothermal “can be viable,” he states. Among the papers describes work led by researchers from Europe on the very first computer system simulations of a Superhot Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) reservoir capable of pipes the energy from more than 6 miles (10-20 km) down where rocks can reach temperature levels of more than 752 degrees Fahrenheit (400oC).
The other paper describes work led by researchers at TEVERRA, LLC, on the stability of a geothermal well extending miles into the Earth, where superhot temperature levels are plentiful. It deals with a few of the difficulties associated with drilling and producing geothermal energy at such depths.
Houde highlighted that although both papers “confirm some of our presumptions on the potential of a superhot tank,” extra research is needed. “We require more speculative data to totally determine the practicality of the resource.”
Graphic showing the fluid pressure circulation around a superdeep geothermal well. The image was developed through the very first simulations of a superhot, superdeep enhanced geothermal system. Credit: Samuel Scott, Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Iceland
The Energy Down Deep
The mother lode of geothermal energy is some 2 to 12 miles underneath the Earths surface where the rock is so hot that if water could be pumped to the area it would end up being supercritical, a steam-like phase that a lot of people arent acquainted with. (Familiar phases are liquid water, ice, and the vapor that makes clouds.) Supercritical water, in turn, can bring some 5-10 times more energy than regular warm water, making it an incredibly efficient energy source if it could be pumped above ground to turbines that might transform it into electricity.
Today we cant access those resources. The top problem: we cant drill down far enough. The drills used by the oil and gas markets cant endure the formidable temperature levels and pressures that are found miles down without becoming tremendously more pricey with depth.
Quaise is working to change the conventional drill bits that mechanically break up the rock with millimeter wave energy (cousins to the microwaves numerous of us prepare with). Those millimeter waves literally melt then vaporize the rock to produce ever deeper holes.
As the business develops the innovation, it is also moneying fundamental research study to give a much better understanding of the dynamics and conditions associated with tapping the heat deep below our feet. Says Carlos Araque, CEO of Quaise, “We do not wish to simply blindly drill a hole and wish for the very best. We want to make sure that were using the best human understanding and comprehending to understand what to expect.”
Simulations
The paper on the very first simulations of heat mining at 10-25 km depths existed by its first author, Samuel Scott of the Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Iceland. Extra authors, in addition to Houde, were Alina Yapparova of the Institute of Geochemistry and Petrology at ETH Zurich, and Philipp Weis of the GFZ Potsdam German Research Center for Geosciences.
While Scotts discussion was limited in scope due to the fact that the paper is presently under evaluation by a clinical journal, he explained the standard performance of the designs behind the simulations and a few outcomes.
He said, “our designs show that superhot rock enhanced geothermal systems can achieve high power output with a little spatial footprint,” or amount of land needed atop the hole. More specifically, he stated, “we discovered that theoretical systems including a well doublet or triplet can provide a thermal power output of >> 100-120 MW per well for timescales of decades.” Thats 5-10 times more power than normally produced today from a standard, shallower geothermal system, Houde says, and this improvement in power density might make geothermal competitive with oil and gas.
Scott keeps in mind that these results depend upon the design assumptions, particularly the efficiency of hydraulic stimulation at such depths. As a result, he and associates are continuing research to refine the designs with more data and restrictions on rock habits. They are concentrating on 3 essential criteria: water circulation within the holes, or wellbores; the chemical responses anticipated to happen in the reservoir; and rock mechanics and fractures at these depths and temperatures.
Wellbore Stability
The paper on wellbore stability existed by Jerjes Porlles of TEVERRA, LLC. His coauthors, in addition to Houde, are Andrew Madyarov, Joseph Batir, and Hamed Soroush, all of TEVERRA.
Specifically, Porlles and coworkers explored the stability of a wellbore at the depths that Quaise is targeting for superhot rock geothermal energy production. States Porlles, “in this paper, we explored a few of the dynamics behind fluid flow and cool water– rock interactions in a theoretical borehole, and none of the designs show borehole stability problems.” That said, he highlighted the requirement for extra information on, for instance, rock type and associated material homes, and additional testing on the material residential or commercial properties established throughout the millimeter wave drilling procedure” being developed by Quaise.
The work on both of these documents was supported by Quaise Energy.