Deep rock drilling is extremely expensive, but in order to take maximum advantage of enhanced geothermal energy, we have to drill many thousands of feet into the hot rock. The links and video below point toward a possible solution: spallation drilling.
Brian Westenhaus took
a recent look at the growth in the number of geothermal projects across the US. And a recent
Seeker Blog article on geothermal energy suggests that spallation drilling should provide an economic means for drilling at the necessary depths for high quality heat. The graph below shows the projected economic benefit of spallation drilling vs. conventional deep rock drilling.
Hydrothermal spallation was invented and patented by cofounder Bob Potter and Jefferson Tester of MIT. The patent is owned by MIT and licensed exclusively to
Potter Drilling.
An animation of how hydrothermal spallation works.
Chad Augustine MIT PhD Thesis Chemical Engineering
Summary of Potter Geothermal project funded by US DOE
Description of hydrothermal spallation drilling at Energy Boom
2006 Technology Review interview with patent holder Jefferson Tester
Adapted from a post published at
Al Fin, The Next Level
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