In the continuing effort to develop electricity from renewable energy cheaper
than from coal, Google, through its philanthropic arm Google.org, announced
$10.25 million in investments in a breakthrough energy technology called
enhanced geothermal systems (EGS). This announcement also includes funding for
research on next-generation geothermal resource mapping, EGS information tools
and a policy agenda for geothermal energy.
EGS expands the potential of geothermal energy by orders of magnitude. The
traditional geothermal approach relies on finding occurring pockets of steam
and hot water. The EGS process, by comparison, replicates these conditions by
fracturing hot rock, circulating water through the system, and using the
resulting steam to produce electricity in a conventional
turbine.
A recent Massachusetts Institute of Technology report on EGS estimates that
just 2 percent of the heat below the continental United States between 3
kilometers and 10 kilometers, depths within the range of current drilling
technology, is more than 2,500 times the country’s total annual energy
use.
“It has the potential to deliver vast quantities of power 24/7, and be captured
nearly anywhere on the planet. And it would be a perfect complement to
intermittent sources like solar and wind,” says Dan Reicher, director of
Climate and Energy Initiatives for Google.org.
Google’s Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal initiative focuses on solar thermal
power, advanced wind, EGS and other potential breakthrough technologies. Google
has set a goal to produce one gigawatt of renewable energy capacity, enough to
power a city the size of San Francisco, in years, not
decades.
To advance EGS, Google.org announced funding for two companies and a
university: AltaRock Energy Inc. received an investment of $6.25 million to
develop innovative technologies to achieve significant cost reductions and
improved performance in EGS projects. Potter Drilling Inc. received an
investment of $4 million to develop new approaches to lower the cost and expand
the range of deep hard-rock drilling, a critical element to large-scale
deployment of EGS. Southern Methodist University Geothermal Labs received a
$489,521 grant to improve understanding of the size and distribution of
geothermal energy resources, and to update geothermal mapping of North America.
Maps for geothermal potential have not been updated since
1974.
Dr. Larry Brilliant, executive director of Google.org states, “Innovation is
the path to massive quantities of cleaner, cheaper energy. The people we’re
funding have a real shot at lowering the cost of EGS, and bringing us closer to
our goal of Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal.”
“EGS is critical to the clean electricity revolution we need to solve the
climate crisis, but EGS hasn’t received the attention it merits. That’s why
we’re pressing for expanded support from government and increased investment
from the private sector,” adds Reicher. “We’re big believers in EGS and we’re
looking for more opportunities.”
For more information, visit www.google.org.