[HN Gopher] DOE to invest up to $165M to advance domestic geothe... ___________________________________________________________________ DOE to invest up to $165M to advance domestic geothermal energy Author : montalbano Score : 55 points Date : 2022-08-26 20:12 UTC (2 hours ago) (HTM) web link (www.energy.gov) (TXT) w3m dump (www.energy.gov) | 71a54xd wrote: | A prior boss of mine, one of the smartest guys I've ever worked | for devised a geothermal extraction apparatus (theoretical) back | when the Obama admin was flushing DOE with cash for grants. He | was attempting to tackle some of the common barriers to | "domestic" geothermal. The issue being it's hard to drill deep | enough to reach rock hot enough. | | His geothermal patent can be seen here [0] - it's a novel | approach to vary the extent of power extracted from a geothermal | well, while preventing the necessity to acquire both water rights | AND mineral rights (commonly one of the biggest hurdles in | "residential" geothermal deployments). The root of the patent is | a novel means of "sealing" a geothermal well, providing | bidirectional flow to and from the well. | | His background is pretty interesting - he was a construction | engineer by trade, but initially made his first fortune by | speculating and purchasing land use options on corn-fields in | Iowa. Turned out his guess was right, and DOE purchased some of | his land to grow corn for ethanol production. | | [0] - | https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/20/12/43/9c15aaf... | tootie wrote: | I assume this is for commercial electricity generation and not | the trend of residential heating and cooling? | chiefalchemist wrote: | Why do I get the feeling that much of the $155M is going to end | up in the pockets of the oil and gas industry? When it would | better off invested in startups without the baggage, conflicts of | interest, tunnel vision, etc.? | ch4s3 wrote: | I wouldn't be surprised if well drilling companies end up being | able to do geothermal installs more cheaply than upstarts. | They're already drilling under some pretty extraordinary | circumstances. | | But, I share the concerns about corporate welfare and capture. | ibatindev wrote: | Every time I read the word Geothermal I end up in the wikipedia | article: "Induced seismicity in Basel" within minutes. | ortusdux wrote: | Conversely: " Blowing off steam: How clean energy could | stabilize faults" https://temblor.net/earthquake- | insights/blowing-off-steam-ho... | | A summary of this publication: | https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03601-4 | | Seems like the perfect candidate for $165 million in DOE | research funding. | | >The Geothermal Energy from Oil and Gas Demonstrated | Engineering (GEODE) initiative will provide $10 million to form | a consortium of experts to develop a roadmap for addressing | technology and knowledge gaps in geothermal energy, based on | best practices used within the oil and gas industry. DOE will | then use that roadmap to fund up to an additional $155 million | in research to address those gaps. This funding opportunity | supports President Biden's priorities to deploy clean energy | sources to combat climate change, strengthen our energy | independence, and create good-paying jobs. | orware wrote: | That wikipedia article certainly brings up some need for | pause/concern. | | Recently, I heard about this relatively new company named | Quaise: https://newatlas.com/energy/quaise-deep-geothermal- | millimete... | | And I thought that the technology seemed quite interesting, so | I hope the development of it can pan out since it seemed like | it would enable greater usage of geothermal energy around the | world, which seems to be mostly untapped at this time, and also | seemed like it might be able to address the seismic | issue/concern, although I'm not an expert on the topic so I | could be wrong there. | | Geothermal is mainly a topic of interest for myself since there | are a few local plants in my own region but I hadn't really | realized that it is an underutilized power generation option | until I read the article on Quaise recently above. | achatham wrote: | I believe the seismic problems come from water flowing across | the bore hole and eventually destabilizing the ground (this | can happen with fracking). The Quaise approach basically | cauterizes the hole as it drills, so water can't flow across. | The water is more of a closed system. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2022-08-26 23:01 UTC)