Andy Van Horn, Ph.D., Director of Energy Policy and Markets, GreenFire EnergyGeothermal Rising 50th Anniversary Storytelling Contest Winner My geothermal odyssey began in 1975, two years after the 1973 OPEC oil embargo created global oil shortages. Two U.K. colleagues and I organized an international summer school at Oxford University on “Aspects of Energy Conversion.” One speaker was E.R. Oxburgh, (now Baron Oxburgh.) In his lecture and the book chapter I edited, he summarized the technology and global status of “Geothermal Energy,” which at that time produced electric power at Lardarello, Italy and The Geysers in northern California. Lardarello began to […]
GreenFire Energy Completes the Initial Closing of Series A Financing Led by Oil and Gas Industry Strategic Investors
Joseph Scherer, CEO, GreenFire Energy We recently completed the initial closing of our Series A financing round, led by energy technology leader Baker Hughes. I am very pleased that Ajit Menon, Vice President of Geothermal for Baker Hughes, is joining our corporate board of directors. This is all part of expanding the strategic relationship we’ve built with their geothermal team that includes Baker Hughes personnel, activities, and support. Other key investors in the financing round include Helmerich & Payne, Inc. (H&P) and venture investors from Optima Capital of Singapore. GreenFire Energy is seeing a tremendous surge of interest in our GreenLoop technology for geothermal well […]
Geothermal on the Radar
Oil and gas companies have geothermal on the radar and they are ushering in a new phase of growth. As energy companies transition to a low-carbon future, geothermal energy offers renewable power generation that aligns with their operational expertise and skilled labor force. We are seeing the increase in new geothermal projects like never before. Our View of the Industry In the U.S., clean energy advocates that have driven the rise of wind and solar are hoping to do the same with geothermal. Geothermal energy was included in Congress’ bipartisan infrastructure package last fall that devoted $84 million for demonstration […]
Make an Impact in 2022
Hollis Chin, VP Marketing, GreenFire Energy Geothermal energy development is growing and the evidence is in plain sight. Companies around the globe are announcing geothermal projects and plans–which means market growth. The news is good but we still have much work to do. We need to move faster on developments, be smarter by using technology, and cooperate in the spirit of shared destiny. Let’s make 2022 the year that geothermal makes an impact on the energy transition. Thank you for being a friend of GreenFire Energy. Happy Holidays! Our View of the Industry The IPO for PT Pertamina Geothermal Holding […]
Geothermal Dinner Party
Hollis Chin, VP Marketing, GreenFire Energy The geothermal industry used to be a lonely place. Outside the industry, few people cared about the potential of earth’s abundant, continuous, renewable resource. We invited new people to our conferences, but they didn’t come. Now all that has changed. With the Geothermal Rising Conference, Pivot2021, GEOLAC, the World Geothermal Congress 2020+1, and more, geothermal is now like a big dinner party. People are flowing in with food and wine. With all the bright minds and innovative companies, geothermal has momentum. Our View of the Industry The geothermal dinner party was in full swing […]
Desperately Seeking Reliable Clean Energy: Closed-Loop Geothermal Energy Systems Offer Opportunities and Applications
Andrew J. Van Horn Ph.D., Director of Applied Research, GreenFire Energy California was burning and the western U.S. baking, leading to high electricity demands that taxed generation resources throughout the West. On Friday, August 14, 2020, the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) reported that a 750 MW unit was offline, and a 475 MW natural gas-fired generator went down. Out-of-state imports were constrained, partly because imported power was needed in other states and was not under firm contracts to California. On Saturday, August 15, cloudy and smoky conditions reduced solar generation across the state and breezes were erratic. At 4 […]
An Open Letter to the Oil Patch: Let’s Build Together
From the Heat Beat Blog Joseph Scherer and John Muir, GreenFire Energy In an article in support of geothermal energy, the Union of Concerned Scientists noted that the amount of available geothermal energy beneath our feet is 50,000 times more than the global total of oil and natural gas resources combined. Interesting, right? Put another way, the oil and gas industry has powered the world over the last centuries on the much smaller of our two subsurface resources – hydrocarbons and heat. Further, a groundbreaking and visionary study published by MIT entitled “The Future of Geothermal Energy” concluded that exploiting […]
GreenFire Energy’s Demonstration of Closed-Loop Technology Accomplishes Its Goals – California Energy Commission Report Now Available
GreenFire Energy just announced the completion of the world’s first field-scale demonstration of closed-loop technology that is described in the California Energy Commission publication, Closed-Loop Geothermal Demonstration Project (CEC-300-2020-007…
On the Road: Geothermal Resources Council Coso Geothermal and GreenFire Energy Field Trip
On the last day of the recent Geothermal Resources Council Annual Meeting & Expo in Palm Springs, California, 52 GRC attendees boarded a bus for a GRC field trip to visit the Coso Geothermal Fields and the GreenFire Energy closed-loop geothermal demonstration project…
First Field Scale Test of Closed Loop Geothermal to be Conducted at Coso California
Despite its potential, geothermal power generation has always been a tough business. Finding the three components necessary for conventional geothermal projects – heat, water, and subsurface permeability – in the right proportions at the same site is comparatively rare…