A geothermal startup plans to invent a wave drill that can penetrate 12.4 miles into the earth’s crust, releasing virtually unlimited amounts of clean energy.
Quaise Energy, a startup company at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology based in Boston and Houston, recently secured $ 40 million in funding to help pull the first drilling rig off the drawing board.
The system works by drilling to the base rock, then firing high-power millimeter waves into the ground, without the need for complex mechanical drills that are limited by pressure and intense heat deep into the crust.
Regular metal drills break or simply melt above a certain depth when the heat and pressure become too great to handle.
The goal is to be able to rebuild existing fossil fuel power plants by replacing burning coal with a heat of 900F from miles below the Earth’s surface.
The company hopes the first drilling platform will be operational by 2024, the first wells producing up to 100 megawatts of geothermal energy by 2026, and fossil power plants reassigned by 2028, delivering clean energy worldwide.
Geothermal startup plans to use wave drilling that can penetrate 12.4 miles (20 km) into the earth’s crust, releasing virtually unlimited amounts of clean energy
The goal is to be able to rebuild existing fossil fuel power plants by replacing burning coal with 900F of heat from miles below the Earth’s surface.
Geothermal energy is already being used in areas where pockets of natural heat sources are close to the surface and easily accessible.
The problem is that in order to be viable, they must also be close enough to the grid, which makes geothermal power plants relatively rare.
When they work, they provide a completely reliable, round-the-clock source of energy that continues to work, unlike other renewable sources such as wind and solar.
If the sun does not shine or the wind does not blow, then energy is not generated, but with geothermal energy the rocks under the Earth are always hot.
Geothermal supplies currently supply about 0.3% of the world’s energy consumption, but Quaise believes its technology can solve this and sees the figure rising rapidly.
“The rapid transition to clean energy is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity,” said Arunas Chesonis, managing partner of Safar Partners, the company behind the fundraising circle.
“Geothermal energy can provide much more energy using fewer resources. We need to approach the transition to clean energy from both angles.
The company hopes the first drilling platform will be operational by 2024, the first wells producing up to 100 megawatts of geothermal energy by 2026, and fossil power plants reassigned by 2028, delivering clean energy worldwide
QUAISE ENERGY TIMELINE
2024: The first full-scale hybrid drilling rig combining conventional rotary drilling with millimeter-wave drilling capabilities.
2026: First super hot improved geothermal system, estimated at 100 MW of heat from a handful of wells.
2028: The first fossil fuel power plant to be re-powered with clean geothermal steam
“Quaise’s decision makes us optimistic about a future in which clean renewable energy will secure the future of our planet.”
Being able to take advantage of a globally available geothermal energy supply requires drilling much deeper into the Earth than is currently possible.
Kola’s ultra-deep drilling in Russia holds the record for the deepest hole drilled, about seven miles away, but even that is not enough for Quaise Energy.
They suggest that drilling will have to go about 12 miles below the surface to reach rocks hot enough to power massive power plants.
The problem is that when the drill drops below the main scale, temperatures and pressures begin to rise, which in turn damages the drill and stops it from going deeper.
Quaise’s decision is not to use a physical drill at all, but rather to resort to science fiction-inspired “beam” technology that evaporates rocks in its path.
This new millimeter-wave drilling system uses technology that has been around for a decade but has not been produced on a commercial scale before.
Quaise Energy says its geothermal drilling system will require less footprint from wind and solar energy and can run continuously
This is a form of “directional energy drilling” and uses high-frequency waves to heat the rock on its way to the point where it melts or evaporates.
Quaise Energy uses a gyrotron to power its drilling rig, a high-power linear beam vacuum tube that generates millimeter-long electromagnetic waves.
The system works by drilling to the main rock, then shoots millimeters of high power into the ground, without the need for complex mechanical training
The ability to drill deep into the surface, from anywhere on the planet, without expensive and easily damaged drills, is a change in the game of renewable energy, according to the team behind the technology.
This would allow geothermal power plants to be installed everywhere and even replace existing fossil fuel stations with geothermal energy sources.
Securing funding will allow Quaise to accelerate product development and begin construction of the first wave-drilling machine that can be deployed on site.
“This round of funding brings us closer to providing clean, renewable energy from baseload,” said Carlos Arak, CEO and co-founder of Quaise Energy.
“Our technology allows us to have access to energy anywhere in the world, on a scale far greater than wind and solar energy, which allows future generations to thrive in a world powered by an abundance of clean energy.”
The company plans to use its new drilling technology to re-power traditional power plants, save infrastructure costs and use the workforce of the current oil and gas industry to accelerate the transition to a sustainable energy industry.
“We need a huge amount of carbon-free energy in the coming decades,” said Mark Kupta, managing director of Prelude Ventures, which is involved in financing the company.
Quaise Energy split from the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center in 2018.
HOW IT WORKS: HIGH ENERGY BEAM EVAPORATES STONES
Deep geothermal energy is at the heart of an energy-independent world.
This is the only renewable solution with the potential to bring us to zero by 2050. It is renewable, inexhaustible and accessible everywhere.
A gyro-powered drilling rig evaporates boreholes through rock and provides access to deep geothermal heat without complex equipment.
Based on revolutionary fusion research and well-established drilling practices, this is a new approach to ultra-deep drilling.
First, a conventional rotary drill is used to reach the basement rock. High-power millimeter waves are then used to reach unprecedented depths.
This will allow the drill to reach a depth of 12.4 miles below the surface, where temperatures reach 900F.
Deeper geothermal energy is more universal, as it can be used anywhere on Earth and connected to power plants.
Hotter geothermal energy has a higher power density than traditional geothermal energy near the surface.
At these temperatures, geothermal energy is so powerful that it can re-power most fossil fuel power plants.