[HN Gopher] DOE to invest up to $165M to advance domestic geothe...
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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.
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