What Makes ECO2G™ Better?
Lack of subsurface permeability has been the greatest constraint for conventional hydrothermal projects; only about 2% of the global geothermal resource has sufficient permeability to allow for adequate water flow. But even where permeability is believed adequate, conventional hydrothermal drilling is very risky. Finding and drilling into an area with the right combination of heat, water and permeability is difficult and inexact at best. Consequently, about half of all drilled wells fail to produce commercial scale power.
An alternative experimental technology, water-based “Enhanced Geothermal Systems” (EGS), has been tried for decades to reliably create artificial permeability. However, water-based EGS is still far from commercialization because of the difficulty of creating long symmetrical cracks in the complex and varied terrains of geothermal reservoirs.
Finally, both conventional hydrothermal (as the name indicates) and EGS require enormous quantities of water that limit development in dry areas such as the American southwest. Ten thousand gallons per day of water per MW is fairly common. Bringing millions of gallons of water to the surface can cause additional problems because of concentrated minerals and sometimes toxic compounds that must be captured and cleaned before returning the water underground.
In contrast, ECO2G represents a radically different approach to both conventional hydrothermal and EGS. To obviate the permeability and water availability problems, ECO2G circulates refrigerants optimized for specific well conditions in a closed-loop pipe system to gather and transport high temperature heat to the surface for power generation. Next, ECO2G substantially reduces drilling risk, because the only requirement is to find sufficient heat. Taking permeability and water availability out of the equation makes ECO2G a much more predictable technology.
Lack of subsurface permeability has been the greatest constraint for conventional hydrothermal projects; only about 2% of the global geothermal resource has sufficient permeability to allow for adequate water flow. But even where permeability is believed adequate, conventional hydrothermal drilling is very risky. Finding and drilling into an area with the right combination of heat, water and permeability is difficult and inexact at best. Consequently, about half of all drilled wells fail to produce commercial scale power.
An alternative experimental technology, water-based “Enhanced Geothermal Systems” (EGS), has been tried for decades to reliably create artificial permeability. However, water-based EGS is still far from commercialization because of the difficulty of creating long symmetrical cracks in the complex and varied terrains of geothermal reservoirs.
Finally, both conventional hydrothermal (as the name indicates) and EGS require enormous quantities of water that limit development in dry areas such as the American southwest. Ten thousand gallons per day of water per MW is fairly common. Bringing millions of gallons of water to the surface can cause additional problems because of concentrated minerals and sometimes toxic compounds that must be captured and cleaned before returning the water underground.
In contrast, ECO2G represents a radically different approach to both conventional hydrothermal and EGS. To obviate the permeability and water availability problems, ECO2G circulates refrigerants optimized for specific well conditions in a closed-loop pipe system to gather and transport high temperature heat to the surface for power generation. Next, ECO2G substantially reduces drilling risk, because the only requirement is to find sufficient heat. Taking permeability and water availability out of the equation makes ECO2G a much more predictable technology.
