A comprehensive new MIT-led study of the potential for geothermal energy within the United States has found that it could competitively supply a substantial portion of demand.
The study, ‘The future of Geothermal Energy’, examined the economic viability of using enhanced geothermal system (EGS) technology to greatly increase the geothermal resource that could be recovered commercially.
“We’ve determined that heat mining can be economical in the short term, based on a global analysis of existing geothermal systems, an assessment of the total U.S. resource and continuing improvements in deep-drilling and reservoir stimulation technology,” said study leader Jefferson W. Tester.
The expert panel offers a number of recommendations including a multi-year federal commitment to demonstrate the concept in the field at commercial scale.
Even in the most promising areas, however, drilling must reach depths of 1.7 km or more in the west, and much deeper in the eastern United States. Still, “the possibility of drilling into these rocks, fracturing them and pumping water in to produce steam has already been shown to be feasible,” the study, which was sponsored by the US Department of Energy, says.
