Houston-based geothermal startup Fervo Energy has successfully completed a well test to confirm the commercial viability of using oil and gas drilling technology for geothermal energy, the company said in a statement press tuesday
The 30-day well test, a standard for geothermal, achieved a flow rate of 63 liters per second at high temperature enabling 3.5 megawatts (MW) of electrical production, setting new records for both flow rate and power output. ‘an improved geothermal system. according to the statement. The test was conducted at Fervo Energy’s large-scale commercial pilot, called Project Red, in northern Nevada.
“By applying drilling technology from the oil and gas industry, we have shown that we can produce carbon-free energy resources 24/7 in new geographies around the world,” said Tim Latimer , CEO of Fervo. “The incredible results we’re sharing today are the product of many years of hard work and commitment from Fervo employees and industry partners, especially Google.”
According to the press release, Fervo and Google signed the world’s first corporate agreement to develop next-generation geothermal energy in 2021, with the goal of powering the Google Cloud region in Las Vegas with an “always-on” resource and carbon-free which will reduce the company’s hourly dependence on fossil fuels.
Fervo said it is the first company to successfully drill a pair of horizontal wells for commercial geothermal production, achieving lateral lengths of 3,250 feet, reaching a temperature of 191 degrees Celsius and “proving controlled flow through rigorous tracer testing.” , while completing the project without any incident.
The data collected throughout the pilot test “will enable rapid progress in geothermal deployment,” Fervo said. The company plans for its next horizontal well to achieve more than double the power output of the pilot design.
“Achieving our goal of operating on carbon-free energy 24/7 will require new sources of clean, steady energy to complement variable renewables such as wind and solar,” he said. said Google’s Senior Director of Energy and Climate, Michael Terrell. “We partnered with Fervo in 2021 because we see significant potential for their geothermal technology to unlock a critical source of carbon-free 24/7 energy at scale, and we’re excited to see that Fervo achieves this important technical milestone.”
The pilot results support the findings of the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Enhanced Geothermal Earthshot, Fervo said. The Enhanced Geothermal Earthshot initiative aims to bring enhanced geothermal systems to the country by reducing their cost by 90 percent to 445 per megawatt-hour by 2035. Fervo added that geothermal energy could supply more than 20 per hundred of US energy needs and complement wind and solar power to reach a fully decarbonized grid.
“Energy system modeling confirms that geothermal can be a critical player in a fully decarbonized grid. Fervo’s successful commercial pilot brings next-generation geothermal technology from the realm of models into the real world and starts us on a path to unlock the full potential of geothermal,” Jesse Jenkins, assistant professor and leader of research and optimization of zero-carbon (ZERO) energy systems at Princeton University, said in the press release.
Devon Energy is also an investor in Fervo, having invested $10 million in early April. In 2021, Fervo was one of 17 projects selected by the DOE to receive $46 million in cumulative funding under its Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy Initiative at the University of Utah.
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