How new tech is moving geothermal from niche to mainstream, with Alexandra Gerken
Let’s Talk Energy and drill down into the latest developments in the red-hot geothermal sector. Geothermal power generation has existed for more than 100 years, and the first large plants were built in places like New Zealand, the US and Japan in the 1960s.
Episode description
Let’s Talk Energy and drill down into the latest developments in the red-hot geothermal sector. Geothermal power generation has existed for more than 100 years, and the first large plants were built in places like New Zealand, the US and Japan in the 1960s. But the potential has always been limited by the unique geology needed to support conventional geothermal facilities, which rely on having both hot rocks and water in relatively close proximity to the surface. Now a new generation of geothermal developers is trying to expand the scope – and lower the costs – of generating power or heat from the Earth with a variety of novel approaches, including drilling and hydraulic fracturing techniques developed by the US shale industry. * How has technology expanded the geography of geothermal energy, and what does that mean for its potential as a source of clean, firm power? * Can geothermal developers lower project costs enough to compete with other energy sources like a natural gas power plant or rapidly advancing small modular nuclear reactors? * What needs to happen for these new geothermal plants to move beyond being just a darling of datacenter developers to materially contributing to the global energy mix?
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