Brock 

Good morning. Welcome to episode 127 of the Driller Newscast, a weekly update on the news and stories impacting the water, the construction, and most importantly, the geothermal industry. I'm your host, Brock Yordy, and I am in Boston, Massachusetts right now at the CIC the 18th floor with one of the team members of HEET. And this week we're going to talk geothermal from site visits to the viability to workforce development. And I have a great friend and a great ambassador of the geothermal industry sitting right next to me and I'm going to let Angie go ahead and introduce herself and what the heck is HEET?

Angie 

Thank you. Thanks, Brock, for having me. Hi, everyone. So glad to be here. My name's Angie. I work for HEET. I'm our director of our Gas to Geo transition. I've been here for about two years and I just want to describe HEET a little bit. So we're a pretty spunky group of folks.

Brock

Spunky, yeah,

Angie

Very small nonprofit, but growing to meet the demand of the industry, definitely. So we initially started as a nonprofit climate solutions incubator, really trying to address all of the climate solutions that weren't really being looked at very closely. So HEET started mapping gas leaks and making the invisible visible by sharing those gas leaks and even canvassing with some CBOs right in front of the gas leak and making a big stink about it. So you can look up that video if you want, but the gas leaks kind of pose the problem of, “Okay, so what do we do about them?” 

Then started the shared action plan between HEET and gas utilities to fix the largest leaks, which 7% of leaks are SEI’s (significant environmental impact) and accounted for about 50% of the methane emissions. And so the shared action plan was to address those biggest leaks through our engagement with the utilities on that front and just HEETS innovative minds coming together with others. With folks from NYSERDA, across the country really in our community, charities, geothermal networks, also known as thermal energy networks, rose up as a solution to replace pipe with pipe, right?

Putting geothermal pipe in the ground to heat and now cool our homes. And so that's a little bit about heat. There's a lot more that we're doing that we'll get into with Brock I'm sure, but that's just a little taste.

Brock 

Yeah. So real quick to unpack this, we got a big audience out there, but charrettes, what is a charrette?

Angie:

A charrette is a stakeholder meeting. Our charrettes use the Chatham House Rule, where anything that is said in those four walls or those virtual walls isn't attributed to any one individual or organization so that everyone is free to share from their expertise genuinely. And that allowed for more collaboration and really aligning on let's solve the problem. And so we do 'em about once every year. I think we're starting to ramp them up now because of the need to engage stakeholders and collaborate so much more. So those are done. We've done 13 so far. And what we do is we align around a problem. We align around wanting to find a solution for that problem with no expectations, and we bring many stakeholders together, very diverse stakeholders together, people that maybe typically wouldn't get along, into a room and discuss the solution around the topic. So that's what a charrette is.

Brock

So let's talk problem solving. And before that, how the heck did you get into geothermal? I’d love to hear. I heard you went to school in New York and you have this really crazy path of career. So share with the audience. How did you get here?

Angie

Yeah, sure. So I feel like I can't really talk about my journey without talking about where I'm from. I'm from Los Angeles, California, born and raised in South central LA right down the street from the George Lucas Museum that you were working on. You were telling me. So yeah, that's where I grew up. My parents are immigrants from Guatemala. And so very early on, I mean throughout my life and still working hard, that value has been instilled in me subconsciously and consciously. So it it's in there. And so I've always been a very hard worker to my detriment sometimes, but in this space, I think we need to all have our heads screwed on tight and work really hard. So yeah, so I decided I wanted to go on an adventure when I wanted to go to college, and I really found a passion in environmentalism very, very early on. I think I was a bit lost before I found environmentalism. And as soon as I found environmental science, I could really find myself serving in that way, in a way that is technical, but that is also empathetic not only to people but to the planet. 

 So, I decided I wanted to go to an environmental college, a place where I would be surrounded with people that were like minded. So I decided to pack my bags and move across the country from a big city LA to little Syracuse, New York, and I went to SUNY ESF, which is the state University of New York's College of Environmental Science and Forestry. So that was originally a forestry school and has since evolved over many years over the past few decades to encompass a wide range of environmental sciences and other disciplines. And so within the Natural Resources Management department, which was originally the forestry department there grew a sustainable energy program. And that really called my attention because of the intersection between policy, science, and energy, specifically energy systems because we all rely on in everybody's homes, no matter where you live in the US you rely on water, sewage, all of that good stuff.

So the sustainable energy program really called to me, and that's where I did a lot of project-based work and was actually working in communities through that program. So I was really lucky to go there.

Brock

That's awesome. So then you end up in geothermal networks. And before we jump into the viability of them, you've been visiting a lot of sites - you're doing Gas-to-Geo. And drill sites are much different than some environmental sites, construction sites, even a building being erected. That first time you stepped on a site as a new individual in this industry, what did you see from a safety standpoint, or do you have any life hacks from being a non-driller stepping onto these sites to what do you engage? How do you do it?

Angie

Yeah, I mean, that's a really big question. I have to go back in my brain to answer that. The first time I stepped on a site, it was here in Massachusetts, folks were drilling a test bore and HEET was on site because we were installing distributed fiber optic sensors down that test bore. And so I think my experience was slightly different. I wasn't thinking of safety necessarily. I was thinking about the research and the quality of the data and making sure that our procedures are in line to get good quality data, but really my role on site as a HEET member interfacing between our research team and the drillers on site was the people interface. First, the driller and the researcher should make sure that both fields trust one another and are respectful towards one another, respecting each role and seeing the value of each. 

 So from a safety perspective though, some things that I noticed over time when water was produced, water management is critical. We were on a hill, we were on a hill for one of the test bores and the water was coming up, and it was completely unexpected. And graphite and water, after the test board was grouted, started rolling down the hill of a retirement community. So that was just another layer of the people we had to interface with: the residents now. How are we good neighbors to the folks that they have to deal with, with the mess? And so that's one of the things that I observed right off the bat as a non-driller stepping onto a drill site.

Brock

Well, this week, we're wrapping up the first-ever geothermal drilling tutorial pilot put together by HEET in collaboration with IGSHPA and the Geothermal Drillers Association. We've been visiting job sites with new perspective assistants and field technicians who are all aspiring one day to be a driller. And so we're out there and we're seeing walking around rigs considering the fall path of the rods, considering the slips, trips and falls tooling, decibel levels. It's not been that hot last week in Boston, but it's still been enough to get dehydrated. There were all the things that we've covered in the Newscast, but I want us to consider as drillers, what do we do when we have visitors on site and we need to show our best professional presence. But also those perspectives, especially when that's just a little bit of fluid running down the hill, and then we get a couple of us out there with an environmental background or just being neighborly and being responsive for our fluids. And I think those are all big pieces. And now from that very first time of putting some downhole data, which is so important for our success, now you walk on a site like a pro, but what's some of the things that you think about?

Angie

Yeah, great question. So the first thing I do is I try to identify somebody on site that is looking at the visitors. Who am I walking up to? I need to introduce myself and find out who's in charge on site almost immediately. Before doing that, I'd say I usually come with a group. Sometimes it's small, sometimes it's a little bit larger, making sure the group is in order, stay here, I'm going to go and speak with whoever's in charge on site to make sure that before anybody else steps on site that we're clear to go, everybody's informed on why we're here, what we're doing, what stage they're in, anything could be happening on site. And so just trying to make that connection right away is super important to me. So as soon as I get off, I put my head on the swivel and I make sure I identify somebody. And usually if it's not the right person, they can point me to the right person to talk to. Right? So that's number one for me. I mean, really before even that is PPE, obviously, right? Making sure that I have all the proper protection on. But I would say identifying the first person on site is what I do. I also tend to look at what the drill is doing. Is it active? I am still learning a lot, especially from our site towards this week from you Brock, and I'm so grateful for that.

But yeah, just any obvious hazards, any trip hazards, just making sure, okay, if I'm bringing this group on site, where are we going to stand? Are we in a traffic path? Are we in a walking path or a standing path? Where can we observe? Where can we engage? We have to be right on the loop to tape our DFOS, which hopefully we won't have to tape much longer if it's manufactured with the loop and DFOS already attached together. But for now, we're taping every three feet. So making sure that those connections are made, everybody's informed, and that everybody's expectations are aligned.

Brock

I think that's perfect. And we've spoken about DFOS and scientists, engineers, and champions of geothermal water that make eye contact with a driller, which translates right into collaboration. We'll have to snag another one of your colleagues to talk about data retrieval and all that HEET's doing from that level to make our business, our industry, all the things that are drilling that tribal aspect so we can prove it. But thermal networks, Framingham has happened now, but you are the director of Gas-to-Geo. And what do you see out there? If you could speak to the driller audience right now that have rigs, what would you say about drilling geothermal right now?

Angie

We need you plain and simple. We need you, but also I think we need the industry to be aligned on what a good hole looks like, a good procedure looks like, to make sure that the holes are not just done quickly, efficiently, to the depth that is specified, but also perform well. And so that's one of the things that we're measuring with DFOS is how each different bores in a field are interacting with each other. How maybe what are we calling it, an orphan borehole that is not connected into the main loop, but we can get data from and learn from how that, at some distance, how the ground is reacting to the bore field and the overall performance that we say we're going to get. Can we really expect that? So I think that's what I would say to drillers is alignment. Number one is alignment on, okay, if you're drilling in Massachusetts, can we provide consistency across all Massachusetts projects? I don't know that we say that right now.

Brock

That's a heck of a challenge. And I love it because one of the really cool things about HEET, as we've talked about the charrettes and we've talked about site visits and we're about to get into workforce development, is this idea of community, this unity. This let's solve the problems together opposed to how many parts of drilling has been across this country of, well, it's the drill contractor's fault. No, it's the engineer's fault. No, it's the site's fault, nature's fault. We're discovering the unknown together. And what do we need to do? We need data to prove what the unknown is from test holes, to finishing a project to DFOS. 

Angie

Right. I think the data's really powerful here, and I realize that the moment slows operations, and so it's a little bit of a barrier to get that. But I think in the long run, we want to be able to say with certainty things about thermal energy networks, that it will deliver the temperature. That people will be comfortable and that this investment, these large investments that are being made to interconnect multiple thermal networks together, multiple geothermal networks together and have that base load storage from the earth is worth it. And so I think a lot of us that are already evangelized are saying that, but not everything that's heat's approach is let the data speak.

Brock

Let the data speak. I love it. With the unification and problem solving and everything, we have a massive bottleneck in the next generation and getting rigs and being able to get the holes. As we watch New York and Massachusetts talk about the millions of bore feet that as we start qualifying, and then you look at Illinois or heck, New England has that $450 million heat pump accelerator. We need a workforce. And so Angie, along with many parts of the HEET team stepped up and said, “what if?” And we brought together this group and talk about a little bit of finding and having discussions with young men and women about becoming a driller, if you would.

Angie

Yeah, sure. Well, I'm just going to caveat and say that he is not a workforce development agency. We're a nonprofit, and we're just, like I said, a little bit spunky, a little bit crazy maybe because we see a gap, and we try to fill it. If we see that nobody is doing anything about it, we try to do something about it because drillers are the most crucial bottleneck right now for the success of these geothermal networks. He believes that having bores, having geothermal is an important design aspect to ensure resilience and reliability, seasonal storage, all of that good stuff. And so having drillers is really important. Of course, we could interconnect buildings and share energy that way. That's great too. But having the added benefits of geothermal is critical. And so that's HEET's stance at least. 

Yeah, finding folks that are willing to do this work was difficult, just to be frank. It was, but it was a great process for us to lay out a trade that can have such a large impact that is poised for so much growth and has many willing collaborators. I think it was an exciting prospect to many of the people that we talk to, and I've had a lot of joy from seeing somebody say, “Hey, I was thinking about going into a trade. I wasn't sure which one, but I want to do good by the planet and by my neighbors and for my family”. And the fact that drillers make life a family sustaining wage, the fact that they travel. These are all seen as benefits to each of the students along with the environmental impact, that service and the fact that it's hyperlocal. So when you're doing a geothermal system, you're likely interacting a lot of the community. And so I think that piece was also impactful for them.

And so it's been a great process and I'm really excited that you're here. I'm learning a lot just by sitting in to some of the sessions and going on site with the students. So I'm always in a state of learning as well. And so it's been really great to have you, and I think it's going to be really valuable to use this pilot to learn a lot from not just the recruitment process. How do we retain students? How do we place students into driller companies? How do we get driller companies interested in taking folks that have been somewhat vetted and get them to kind of zoom out and see the larger picture a little bit?

The beauty is, and this is going to continue into episode 128 so that you're not listening to a full hour of Brock and Angie show now, which I think works well, I may have to bring on a new co-host. This is what we need to think about as an industry. This pilot is so important to what we can do and heat collaborates with drillers, and we have other great states and entities collaborating, and we have the International Ground Source Heat Pump Association doing their thing. And we have New York Geo and the Empire State Water Well Drillers, and we are seeing wonderful partners come in, Skillings and Sons with well drilling and geothermal. Who I learned last week went from 12 employees to where they're now much larger into a hundred and what they're doing across their state. And we talk about you can't teach the tribal piece of drilling.

And as this came together and the HEET team and IGSHPA and Geothermal Drillers Association, and I got to be lucky to be not only a contributor of The Driller and a host, but I get to use my passion to share knowledge. We said we're developing people who want to be on site, who want to be able to take charge, who want to be able to do something. And I know we've had that curmudgeon discussion about, “oh, they just all want to be management, or they all just want to step on the platform”. No. In this tutorial that we've started here and as it is built upon, and that's why it's going to take some more debriefs on this and lots of more insights, we're learning no different than we learn on test holes. This is our test toll of training right now, but what do we do know?

We know we can develop great individuals to become a field technician. Let's throw away that terrible term, “helper”. Nobody feels satisfied at the end of the day of saying “I'm a helper”. That's just not sexy. So we throw that out and they're working to become a field technician, a geothermal field technician, a groundwater field technician in the goals of understanding what roles and responsibilities it takes to be able to support an assistant driller and a driller. And then one day getting that opportunity to be the assistant driller. And then one day the opportunity when it happens to step up. And let's face it, our industry has been based on when did you start drilling? Oh, I know that day. “It was the day when Bobby stopped and got the gas station breakfast burrito, and then we were 30 minutes into the job and he had to leave the job site and there was an emergency. And suddenly I got to be the driller that day”. 

And I'll tell you what, I heard that story onsite last week on how did you go from assistant to drilling? And we talk about baptism by drilling. That's quite the story. So everybody out there thinking about this, how do we develop a generation, a new workforce generation, new individuals that want to come in and save the planet? What do they need to do first? They need to understand their roles and responsibilities saying you shovel the pit, you go sling bags of cement. That's not a career. “Be my helper” - we get to say that to our cousins and our brothers and our sisters and our family members we're all blood. And the reason we've had a great childhood and whatnot was this business paid for it. But now you have new people coming in that are going, this is going to be my career one day and I want more. And that's what we're building upon. And I can't thank HEET enough and IGSHPA enough for what we're doing and from Skilling’s to the other contractors that we're meeting with that people are calling in and next week we're going to give a shout out and I'm going to do some other teasers, but it's been a heck of a ride. We end days laughing and tough questions and for everybody that they say is not approachable on site to see that driller walk up and smile and go, so what do you guys think?

Yeah, it takes a little warming up, but it's well worth it. I think a driller has to be focused. That job is, there's a lot of hazards involved. And so I think the attitude is appropriate to be kind of, but there's also room for a little bit of laughter and fun, I think. So one thing that you said is that I think is important I want to underline, is when we talked about the driller being a driller as a career, we didn't just talk. We didn't go straight into, alright, so this is what you're going to do. We zoomed way out. We talked about career progression, we talked about all of the levels.

Brock

Leveling up your career. 

Angie

Leveling up your career. And maybe eventually, if you do want to sit at a desk, if that's an option for you, then that's something that you'll have to put a lot of intention into. Because this field's growing so fast, operations are also growing, and you need people who know exactly what's happening on-site to be overseeing those operations, too. I think that's really important. But zooming out, talking about environmental impact, and then talking about career progression was a really important part of our recruitment process. And I think what has gotten people engaged in this program, and they're still with that in mind as we go through the coursework now, is that they can see a future for themselves. Now they can see potential in all of these different pathways, and yeah, maybe I'm going to start swinging cement and digging a hole. And that's fun. A lot of them are thrilled by that, and that's great, and maybe you can do that, be a driller and stay on site forever. But there are also other options if you want to; you can get all sorts of certifications. 

Brock

Yes, site supervisor evaluation. Exactly. There's operations. There's so much more. And again, I think as a career, we've always thought about how does a person step up on the platform? That's where they need to be. Okay, now they’re in control of the company and in reality it's how did they step towards the platform, up on the platform and then off it so that they can get the next group onto the platform. 

And that's what's been fun watching these individuals in the last eight days. And there are moments where we all just go, whoa. And I thank you for coming on today. It is a bit emotional industry because it's important and this is step one. And so I want to thank you for joining The Driller Newscast. I want to thank Angie and give her one chance to be on the spot and say whatever she wants to the camera.

Angie

Yeah, thank you all so much for being part of this amazing industry. I am falling in love with it more and more every single day. There's so much more to learn. There's so much more to standardize and to not just standardize, but make better. There's so much knowledge when I stepped on site that I just kind of hear coming out of the folks' mouth and I'm like, oh my God, I need to capture this all. If I have one call to action, it is to capture your learnings, share your learnings - document and share. That's our ethos at HEET- to share everything that we possibly can. Radical transparency, because a rising tide lifts all boats. So that's where I'll leave it,

Brock

And that's a perfect place to leave it. Check out thedriller.com for all the latest content, and obviously we'll see you again in a week. You can go to HEET’s website and I'll put Angie on the spot to say, how do you get to heat's website?

Angie

HEET.org

Brock

Obviously, you can also go to the IGSHPA website and we're all better together in the same with the NGWA and every bit of this industry to the Geothermal Drillers Association, to the NDA. The more we professionally develop and share knowledge, the better an industry will be. Thank you everybody.