7 ms·

This is pretty interesting but it seems like there’s a massive component of this system that is yet to be proven viable—from the article: “Drilling a hole is ch

This is pretty interesting but it seems like there’s a massive component of this system that is yet to be proven viable—from the article: “Drilling a hole is challenging enough,” says Tester. “But actually running the reservoir and getting the energy out of the ground safely may be something very, very far off in the future.” Is there any existing +3km deep geothermal well energy system in use?

dylan604 2y ago
And what do you make the pipes out of that do not get destroyed from living at those depths?
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- TheDudeMan 2y ago
  Steel
Lisdexamfeta 2y ago
Utah FORGE is the deepest I'm aware of: https://utahforge.com/project-research https://utahforge.com/project-research. Well 58-32 goes to 2.2km. 78B-32 goes to 2.9km. 16B(78)-32 appears to break 3km. But FORGE is mostly based around research, from what I understand, rather than rolling out broad-based commercial geothermal.
auspiv 2y ago
Fervo Energy is making great progress in this area. They've drilled a injector/producer pair, frac'd between them (exactly like oil/gas), and pump water at ~60 L/s. Whatever goes into the injector comes out the producer a few hours later much hotter. Their proof of concept produces 3 MW, and uses ~1MW to power the injection pumps. They are doing a full scale plant in Utah now, and expect ~8 MW net for each injector/producer pair. https://eartharxiv.org/repository/view/5704/ https://eartharxiv.org/repository/view/5704/ https://fervoenergy.com/fervo-energy-breaks-ground-on-the-worlds-largest-next-gen-geothermal-project/ https://fervoenergy.com/fervo-energy-breaks-ground-on-the-wo...
jeffbee 2y ago
3km would be far below average for new oil and gas wells in America. Climate change sucks but the technology for punching holes in the ground with extreme aspect ratios is really cool. A reason I am more interested in geothermal than nuclear for "base load" generation is because geothermal can reuse our existing drilling technology and workforce.
- audunw 2y ago
  Yeah, and think about the amount of political support you could get for geothermal projects if workers from the oil and gas sector could see a clear and easy path to adapt their skills. Globally viable geothermal power generation would be an absolute game changer for fighting climate change. It doesn’t have to be better than nuclear. If it’s even close to being as good, the benefits of getting ex oil/gas people/companies on board would more than outweigh the difference. The growth rate could potentially hit levels that make a substantial impact on climate change within a decade of the initial ramp.
  - zer00eyz 2y ago
    Geo would make a good transition project for the drilling side of the business. It's counter intuitive but if we did move that way we need a LOT more petro infrastructure going forward. And without irony it would be better for us. Capturing all the wasted natural gas (that gets flared off) as a reorient to maintain existing wells lowers carbon foot print and makes the use of gas less attractive due to cost. Petrochemical products aren't going away any time soon. Unless we want to go back to hunting whales for things like lubricants. Having useful plastics (because there are tons of medical uses). And we're not getting rid of fertilizer (cause feeding 8 billion people is hard). There are reasons to keep the drilling side and the current matinence side around doing what they do today while lowering carbon foot print.
    - pfdietz 2y ago
      > Petrochemical products aren't going away any time soon. Unless we want to go back to hunting whales for things like lubricants. Synthetic lubricants (like Mobil-1) are a thing.

dylan604 2y ago

And what do you make the pipes out of that do not get destroyed from living at those depths?

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
TheDudeMan 2y ago
Steel

Lisdexamfeta 2y ago

Utah FORGE is the deepest I'm aware of: https://utahforge.com/project-research https://utahforge.com/project-research. Well 58-32 goes to 2.2km. 78B-32 goes to 2.9km. 16B(78)-32 appears to break 3km. But FORGE is mostly based around research, from what I understand, rather than rolling out broad-based commercial geothermal.

auspiv 2y ago

Fervo Energy is making great progress in this area. They've drilled a injector/producer pair, frac'd between them (exactly like oil/gas), and pump water at ~60 L/s. Whatever goes into the injector comes out the producer a few hours later much hotter. Their proof of concept produces 3 MW, and uses ~1MW to power the injection pumps. They are doing a full scale plant in Utah now, and expect ~8 MW net for each injector/producer pair. https://eartharxiv.org/repository/view/5704/ https://eartharxiv.org/repository/view/5704/ https://fervoenergy.com/fervo-energy-breaks-ground-on-the-worlds-largest-next-gen-geothermal-project/ https://fervoenergy.com/fervo-energy-breaks-ground-on-the-wo...

jeffbee 2y ago

3km would be far below average for new oil and gas wells in America. Climate change sucks but the technology for punching holes in the ground with extreme aspect ratios is really cool. A reason I am more interested in geothermal than nuclear for "base load" generation is because geothermal can reuse our existing drilling technology and workforce.

audunw 2y ago
Yeah, and think about the amount of political support you could get for geothermal projects if workers from the oil and gas sector could see a clear and easy path to adapt their skills. Globally viable geothermal power generation would be an absolute game changer for fighting climate change. It doesn’t have to be better than nuclear. If it’s even close to being as good, the benefits of getting ex oil/gas people/companies on board would more than outweigh the difference. The growth rate could potentially hit levels that make a substantial impact on climate change within a decade of the initial ramp.
- zer00eyz 2y ago
  Geo would make a good transition project for the drilling side of the business. It's counter intuitive but if we did move that way we need a LOT more petro infrastructure going forward. And without irony it would be better for us. Capturing all the wasted natural gas (that gets flared off) as a reorient to maintain existing wells lowers carbon foot print and makes the use of gas less attractive due to cost. Petrochemical products aren't going away any time soon. Unless we want to go back to hunting whales for things like lubricants. Having useful plastics (because there are tons of medical uses). And we're not getting rid of fertilizer (cause feeding 8 billion people is hard). There are reasons to keep the drilling side and the current matinence side around doing what they do today while lowering carbon foot print.
  - pfdietz 2y ago
    > Petrochemical products aren't going away any time soon. Unless we want to go back to hunting whales for things like lubricants. Synthetic lubricants (like Mobil-1) are a thing.