🚧 The world's first geothermal plant with 10 to 100 times higher output per well is now being built

• Project Obsidian will be the world's first geothermal power plant to extract energy from rock at 300 to 500 degrees Celsius.
• The millimeter wave drilling technique allows drilling to reach depths and temperatures that conventional drills cannot handle.
• Each well at the higher temperatures can deliver 10 to 100 times more power than other forms of geothermal energy.

Three phases up to gigawatt scale

In central Oregon, an engineering team is building a power plant that will extract electricity from the Earth's internal heat at temperatures between 572 and 932 degrees Fahrenheit. The facility is called Project Obsidian and will be built in three phases. Phase I covers 50 megawatts, Phase II 250 megawatts, and Phase III more than one gigawatt. The plant produces electricity without fuel, without waste, and without emissions.

Microwaves replace the drill bit

The key technology is known as millimeter wave drilling. Instead of using a mechanical drill bit, high-frequency electromagnetic waves are sent down through a waveguide from a gyrotron at the surface. The waves break down the rock without physical contact. The technology is described as the most significant change in drilling since the drill bit was introduced in the 1930s.

Conventional drilling struggles at extreme depths. The equipment cannot withstand prolonged temperatures of several hundred degrees, and the deeper the drill goes, the harder it becomes to power the drill bit. Millimeter wave drilling bypasses these limitations by delivering energy electromagnetically, resulting in fewer interruptions and lower costs.

Clean well with gas pressure

To bring rock fragments, known as cuttings, up from the bottom of the hole, a pressurized gas system is used. In conventional drilling, thick drilling mud is used to transport the cuttings upward, but mud circulation becomes less effective at great depths. The gas system keeps the drilling zone clean and efficient even far down in the rock.

Beyond the geothermal ring

Traditional geothermal energy has depended on locations where nature does the easy work, such as hot springs and geological hotspots around the so-called Ring of Fire surrounding the Pacific Ocean. With millimeter wave drilling, geothermal power becomes available east of the Mississippi and on other continents. The technology is estimated to be able to reach more than 90 percent of humanity.

The most studied site

Project Obsidian is located at the most studied and economically most favorable site in the United States to demonstrate geothermal power at a new scale. The layout follows a model in which drilling begins conventionally and then switches to millimeter waves when heat and depth make the usual tools unusable. The wells are built to withstand decades of high heat and high pressure. Water is stimulated to move through rock formations and carries the heat up to high-efficiency turbines placed close to the point of use.

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