Deep Geothermal Drilling: Serious Hope
The world has shut down 1,631 coal-fired power plants since 2010. However, there are 2,433 coal-fired power plants still in operation as of mid-2023. China has almost half at 1,142. India has 282, and the U.S. has 210. Massive amounts of carbon-dioxide and other GHGs continue to be emitted into our atmosphere! How do you crack that nut any time soon?
Well, Carlos Araque and his company Quaise Energy may be able to transform thousands of coal plants into climate assets.
For fifteen years, Carlos worked for Schlumberger, which manufactures and services oil drilling equipment. He was mid-career when he came to a realization that he needed to walk away from oil. His way forward wasn’t clear, but his next stop was The Engine, a venture capital firm operated by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
There Carlos met Paul Woskov of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center who proposed using a technology related to our microwave ovens to drill deep for geothermal energy without drill bits. You essentially melt the rock into glass rather than grind it (and drill bits) up. The main investor, Vinod Khosla insisted that Carlos run the company which would take this technology from the laboratory into practice. They called it Quaise Energy.
Environmentally, geothermal energy releases far less emissions than any fossil-fired technology. Nor does it carry the problems that plague nuclear power, namely long-lasting radioactive waste and the likelihood of nuclear weapon proliferation. Also we can avoid environmental damage which results from building new power plants. Geothermal energy is everywhere if you drill deep enough.
The key demonstration goal is to prove that millimeter-wave technology can withstand the 500C temperatures needed to tap this essentially renewable source of energy for power plants. Depending on where you are, that occurs between 2 and 12 miles depth (3 to 20 kilometers). Typical oil and gas wells run less than 2 miles (3 kilometers) deep.
Quaise Energy’s website posits this timeline: 2024 – first field demonstration of hybrid drill rig; 2026 – first “super-hot enhanced geothermal system” rated at 100MW “from a handful of wells”; 2028 – “first fossil-fired power plant repowered with clean geothermal steam.”
The positive implications are profound. First, a coal plant has built-in infrastructure to supply electricity to a power grid. Second, companies that own and run such plants have a financial incentive to become climate allies. Third, every nation on earth has the potential to become energy independent and climate neutral because they all sit atop deep geothermal energy. Imagine a world with no oil wars or political squabbles over energy.
How did such a breakthrough occur? I count a professional walking away from a climate unfriendly career, an institution that helps start-up companies, a research scientist with a technology to offer, investors, willing hosts to demonstrate the technology, and enough hard-working employees to make theory a reality. All add up to massive opportunities for crewmembers on Spaceship Earth to transition away from fossil fuels.
This article was adapted from Jon Biemer’s upcoming book, Our Journey to Sustainability: How Everyday Heroes Make a Difference. Jon is registered as a professional Mechanical Engineer in the state of California and a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists. His previous book is Our Environmental Handprints: Recover the Land, Reverse Global Warming, Reclaim the Future. Both books can be purchased from on-line booksellers. His website is www.jonbiemer.com.
