Stanford professor Dr. Roland Horne discusses the history of Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) with Shayle Kann.
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“Actually none of these ideas are actually new. Most of them have been around for 40 or 50 years, and several of them tried already. EGS, perhaps, is the one that's been around the longest, first kind of postulated back in the 19 sixties at Los Alamos National Lab.”
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More from Dr. Roland Horne
AssertionSupported
Horne: Half the US is accessible for $80/MWh geothermal
“So we've estimated that about half of the United States is accessible for EGS at 80 dollars a megawatt hour.”
Dr. Roland HorneJun 27, 2024▶ 18:44Going deep on next-gen geothermal
Insight
Horne: Low rock conductivity fundamentally limits closed-loop geothermal heat extraction
“In the case of a drilled hole, the surface area of the hole is quite small, and therefore you depend a lot on conduction of energy, thermal energy through the rock. And rocks actually are not very good thermal conductors. Rocks are kind of insulators actually,…”
Dr. Roland HorneJun 27, 2024▶ 21:04Going deep on next-gen geothermal
Insight
Horne: Geological uncertainty is the primary cost driver for geothermal
“The biggest cost driver for geothermal development is uncertainty. And because it's a resource, a geological resource, the fact that you don't know exactly how big it is and how long it's going to last, that translates into uncertainty in the sizing of the pla…”
Dr. Roland HorneJun 27, 2024▶ 9:21Going deep on next-gen geothermal
AssertionSupported
Horne: Fervo's 90MW Utah EGS project is 20x larger than predecessors
“Their near-term plan is 90 megawatts, which is, you know, probably 20 times bigger than any of the former EGS projects, the old EGS projects that people have done.”
Dr. Roland HorneJun 27, 2024▶ 17:27Going deep on next-gen geothermal
AssertionPartly supported
Horne: Conventional geothermal matches average US electricity cost of $80/MWh
“You know, the average cost of electricity in the US is somewhere around 80 dollars a megawatt hour and conventional geothermal is basically at that cost today.”
Dr. Roland HorneJun 27, 2024▶ 18:27Going deep on next-gen geothermal
AssertionPartly supported
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“So I'm reminded of the videos they showed of the supercritical well that they produced in Iceland called IDDP-II. It basically produced black steam, and the reason it produced black steam is that it was producing the steel casing together with the steam. It wa…”
Dr. Roland HorneJun 27, 2024▶ 28:33Going deep on next-gen geothermal
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