Quaise Energy – Unlocking the true power of clean geothermal energy

Assuming the millimeter wave drilling technology does in fact hold up (I imagine it draws a LOT of power), the re-use of existing infrastructure (drill a hole at every power station site that boils water to drive a turbine, with existing transmission in place), is brilliant because that&#x27;s a huge, huge cost avoided - and indeed could be stood up in far less time (barring government approvals) than most mega-scale alternatives.<p>Full steam ahead!<p>EDIT: tbh I did also think that this concept sounds like the opening plot for a b-grade disaster movie - &quot;The Day The Earth Cracked Open&quot;.

There has been some effort on going to really deep depths in IDDP (Icelandic Deep Drilling Project) - see <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;iddp.is&#x2F;about&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;iddp.is&#x2F;about&#x2F;</a><p>If I remember correctly, they were never able to hit their goals because of drilling down into magma chambers. The steam coming up was also of a different scale than regular geothermal steam, causing corrosion that has not been dealt with before.<p>As far as I know, the main problem is coming up with casing materials that can withstand the extreme corrosive environment at scale and at cost, and for IDDP that&#x27;s one of the main focuses.

I hate to play the Cassandra again, but the deepest hole ever drilled by anyone was 7Km (edit: 12Km), a far cry from drilling 20Km holes everywhere on the earth. I’ve worked in oil and gas for over 10 years, including on the largest rotary drilling rig in North America, and it is insane what kind of machinery it takes to get 6,000 feet down and push a tool 15,000 feet out.<p>Just as insane is convincing anyone that your drilling activities aren’t causing earthquakes, screwing up water tables, or leaking gas and other chemicals out of the ground.<p>I still hope it works lol!

Is the reason they have to drill down 20 km to 500C rather than say 7 km to 175C (presumably a far simpler task) is the equilibrium heat flow?<p>That is, the water&#x2F;steam cycle is extracting heat from the surrounding rock. That can only be extracted at a rate that matches the heat inflow, or ideally, ever so slightly less, so as to maintain equilibrium over decades over cubic miles of rock.<p>Yes, I understand that larger temperature differences increase thermodynamic efficiency. But if the energy produced is constant, efficiency may not matter as much as ease of construction etc.

For anybody curious, they seem not to be the only player in this space. <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;altarockenergy.com&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;altarockenergy.com&#x2F;</a> also seems to be partnered with MIT on this.

Sounds promising. How realistic is the depth target of 20km really? Also, I would assume this infrastructure will be less applicable in locations with frequent earthquakes.

I don’t know how to reason on the magnitudes and indirect effects here. If we are using the temperature differential, don’t we have to vent that into the atmosphere? Does that heat eventually go into the atmosphere anyway?

Stupid question but is it possible to cool the earth’s core if this tech was scaled out and used massively?

Can anyone with experience comment on how realistic that is? Both in term of drilling, and in terms of how much power we could extract per drill.

It looks like one of those projects that are built to get billionaires to invest with the use of computer graphics.<p>I hope it&#x27;s more than that.

My response here is the same as what I say to proponents of new nuclear technologies: it&#x27;s gotta work on a <i>balance sheet</i>, not just in a pitch deck. This isn&#x27;t a new technology enabling new markets and new kinds of growth here, it&#x27;s just... electricity. And even as a renewable option, it needs to be able to compete not just with fossil fuel generators with-all-the-externalities-factored-in, but with <i>dams and windmills</i> built with century-mature technology.<p>That&#x27;s just a tall order. Should this be a legitimate research topic? Absolutely. Would I put my money down as an investor on this being a win? No. Should we be throwing public money at this? Hell no, we should be building more turbines with that money. Start on the weird stuff only once we&#x27;ve picked the low hanging fruit.

Here in Denmark we have two large scale projects being built and several others in development. The projection is that 30% of district heating of can be provided by geothermals. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;innargi.com&#x2F;en&#x2F;project&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;innargi.com&#x2F;en&#x2F;project&#x2F;</a>

&gt; Geothermal has the power density and scalability of fossil fuels<p>This has the same vibe as hydrogen cars. Don&#x27;t buy battery EVs, wait a decade and buy hydrogen cars that will be just as good as ICE!<p>Or, I can just buy an EV today that&#x27;s already better than ICE.

<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;patents.google.com&#x2F;patent&#x2F;US8393410" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;patents.google.com&#x2F;patent&#x2F;US8393410</a>

At what point do we need to worry about heart from the earth&#x27;s core into the atmosphere at a faster than normal rate?

Maybe it&#x27;s my ignorance but I&#x27;ve always been a little terrified by this technology. I truly expect a major disaster within months, maybe a few years, after someone drills too deep at the wrong place.<p>Plus, isn&#x27;t it a bit shortsighted to suck up the planet&#x27;s heat? Eventually something is gonna give. But that could be centuries from now so who cares, huh?

What an inadequate website for such bold claims.<p>Here in New Zealand we found that geothermal is not &quot;non polluting&quot;. There are a lot of unforeseen consequences with bringing deep water to the surface.<p>Still much better than nuclear that makes our children pay for current consumption or coal that means we are paying for our ancestors consumption....

Sound too good to be true.<p>2024: First full-scale hybrid drilling rig -&gt; 2026: First Super Hot Enhanced Geothermal System rated to 100 MW... -&gt; 2028: First powerplant.<p>This false prophet reminds me of Theranos&#x2F;Elizabeth Holmes. Always skeptical when hearing about such unicorns hunting for idiots&#x27; money.