Advanced Geothermal Comes Online in Germany

This article was originally published Canarian media.

Eavor, a cutting-edge geothermal startup, says it has significantly reduced drilling time and improved technology at its nearly online project in Germany. clean energy from the ground.

At the end of October, the Canadian company published the results of two years of drilling activity at its flagship site in Geretsried. Germanygiving Canary Media an exclusive early look. Ivor said the data supports its initial efforts to deploy new technologies. “closed circuit” geothermal systems in hotter and deeper locations than traditional designs are available.

“Just as wind and solar have fallen down the cost curve, so have unconventional technologies. slate [oil and gas] down the cost curve, we now have technical proof that we've done it in Europe.” Janine Vanico-founder and executive vice president of corporate affairs at Eavor, said from Geothermal rise conference in Reno, Nevada.

Eavor is part of rapidly growing expansion efforts geothermal energy projects outside of traditional hotspots such as California Salton Sea Region or the lava fields of Iceland. The company and other firms, including Fervo Energy, Sage GeosystemsAnd XGS Energy— adapt oil and gas industry tools and techniques to withstand harsh conditions deep underground.

Industry wants to produce large amounts of clean electricity and heat virtually anywhere in the world, and this could serve as an ideal, 24/7 connection to solar and solar energy. wind energy. But geothermal companies are just beginning to test their new technologies.

Ivora geothermal breakthrough in Germany

Eavor began drilling in Geretsried in July 2023shortly after the victory $107 million grants from the European Union Innovation Fund. For your first “loops” the company drilled two vertical wells, reaching almost 2.8 miles below the surface, and then created a dozen horizontal wells, like the tines of a fork, each extending 1.8 miles long. Once installed, the wells are connected underground and insulated so that they act like radiators: circulating inside the system, water collects heat from the stones and brings it to the surface.

Work on the first of the four loops is almost complete, and the startup plans to begin construction of the second loop in March. 2026. In general, the system will supply 8.2 megawatt of electricity to the regional grid and 64 MW district heating to nearby towns, working flexibly to provide more heat in the cold winter months and produce more electricity in the summer.

In a new filing, Eavor said it encountered serious problems drilling the first eight of the twelve lateral wells it had undertaken. 100 days to complete is a major expense in an industry where drilling rigs can cost around $100,000 day for running. But the company said it had improved its methods and adapted equipment so that drilling time for the remaining four wells had been cut by 100%. 50 percent.

For example, Eavor said it has successfully implemented insulated drill pipe technology that can actively cool drilling tools even as they encounter increasingly hot conditions underground and help increase drilling speeds. The changes also allowed Eavor to triple the wear life of the drill bit, further reducing downtime during the operation.

In addition to reducing drilling time and costs, these improvements should also pave the way for increasing Eavor's thermal energy output per circuit by approximately 35 percentVany said.

The project in Germany will be the first commercial system of its kind when it begins producing electricity later this year. But other next generation approaches– such as the advanced geothermal systems that Fervo offers. building in Utah And working in Nevada— are also expanding.

Geothermal drilling problems

Expanded geothermal energy includes destruction of rocks and pumping out liquids for creating artificial reservoirs. The hot rocks directly heat the liquids, which return to the surface and form steam. This approach is relatively more effective at extracting heat from the ground, but it can also increase the risk of earthquakes or impacts on groundwater – although experts say this is unlikely to happen in well-managed projects. In places where it is prohibited hydraulic fracturingAs in Germany, closed-loop systems can still be developed.

But the closed-loop design has its drawbacks, he said. Jeff Tester, professor sustainable energy systems in Cornell University and chief scientist of Cornell's Earth's Heat Source Project. Namely, pipes can limit the transfer of heat from underground rocks to fluids inside the pipe, which in turn limits the amount of energy the system can produce.

“While companies developing closed-loop systems can make them work, the main challenge they face is getting the fluid temperature and flow rate high enough to make it economically worthwhile, Tester said. “You can get energy from the earth; simply, how much can you sustainably and affordably produce from a single closed-loop well?”

Vany said Eavor's simulations show its technology already meets ““levelized cost of heat” in Europe, which estimates the average cost of providing a unit of heat over the life of the project. This figure can range from $50 and $100 per megawatt-hour of thermal energy in the region's volatile energy market, she said.

“Once we complete the first four cycles, we will be at the bottom of the learning curve,” Vani added. “And this is the goal of the Geretsried project.”