Quaise is one of the competitors in the advanced Geothermal space, distinguished by the star-wars technology at the heart of their model.
Using microwave waves as a drill bit, the company is making rapid progress towards a practical scale demonstration, coming soon.
Quaise Energy, a leading developer of grid-scale superhot geothermal energy, today announced it has successfully drilled to a depth of 100 meters using its proprietary millimeter wave technology at its field site in Central Texas. This achievement sets a record for millimeter wave drilling and marks a major step forward in unlocking the Earth’s vast geothermal energy as a scalable, baseload energy source.
Quaise’s millimeter wave drilling system, developed after more than a decade of research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), harnesses a powerful gyrotron to ablate rock for the first time without any downhole hardware. Unlike conventional drill bits, which struggle with hard, hot, rocks like granite and basalt, millimeter wave technology allows access to superhot rock—around 752 degrees Fahrenheit (400℃)—typically found deep within the Earth’s subsurface.
Accessing hotter rock deeper underground enables Quaise geothermal plants to generate many times more energy than traditional geothermal – opening up grid-scale projects that can match the power output of major fossil fuel plants.
“The Earth holds an enormous reservoir of clean energy — energy that could fundamentally change how we power our world if we can reach it,” said Carlos Araque, CEO and President of Quaise Energy. “Quaise has now demonstrated that millimeter wave technology can do what no other technology can do: drill perfectly clean holes through some of the hardest rocks on Earth in record time. This milestone brings us closer to making geothermal energy a practical solution to power communities virtually anywhere.”
I wish them luck, and all the other geothermal companies luck as well. It’s a good opportunity to put the large set of people skilled with drilling and geology operations to a better use than producing oil, gas, produced water and CO2.
Another startup in the field – Sage Energy – founder gets interviewed in this Cleaning Up episode and right in the lead-in mentions that drilling up to 20,000 feet is part of what they plan:
“Geothermal is Having a Moment, Can it Deliver? Ep179: Cindy Taff”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3I2fn9_atE
And WSJ just the other day, on the still-fossil side – also drilling to extreme (for today’s standards) depths deep in the heart of (East) Texas:
“Jerry Jones Says He Has Unlocked a $100 Billion Gas Bounty in This Drilling Inferno
Cowboys owner backs Comstock’s bid to develop some of the hottest, deepest wells in the U.S.”
https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/jerry-jones-comstock-resources-texas-f11636d6
Wish them luck too. Am NOT NOT counting them.