Heat model
Finding geothermal heat by mapping the thermal gradient is the easy part, but estimating the cost of efficiently extracting this heat takes deeper modeling of the technologies needed to make the production of geothermal energy not just cost effective, but the cheapest source of energy on the planet.
Site selection
Choosing the right location to develop geothermal energy is a function of the risk and readiness of the technologies needed to extract and produce it; you can’t produce what you can’t predict. If we can accurately predict the technologies needed, we will be able to readily produce deep geothermal energy.
Resource characterization
Drilling is expensive and so it is critical to eliminate as much development risk as possible before breaking ground. We can assess risk by estimating the value of economically recoverable heat resources in any given location by extrapolating from existing databases of the subsurface and using predictive analysis to forecast geothermal cash flows.
Going deeper
Enabling a step-change in geothermal cost and performance can only be achieved by exploiting deeper thermal resources where production fluids become supercritical (T > 374 ℃ and P > 22.1 MPa for pure water). These ‘superhot’ rocks are found within the Brittle-Ductile Transition (BDT) zone, where the geology transitions to a ductile state with extremely low natural permeability.
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