Page 70 - LIN-December 2024-web-file

Technically Speaking

The Not

-so-

Impossible

Dream

by Dave Trecker

• Greenhouse emissions continue to rise. And the world will be better for this
• Global temperatures soar. The IEA says achieving net zero in greenhouse gas generation by
2050 will require replacing fossil fuels with a host of clean-energy
• Ocean waters soak up heat and intensify hurricanes.
sources. The best of these may well be “hot rock geothermal,”
• Changing climate rejects all attempts to bring it under control. drawing on Quaise Energy’s millimeter wave technology. Vast
veryone says abundant clean energy is the answer, and reaches of the world would benefit economically because of the
the International Energy Agency routinely reports on the pinpoint generation of low cost power.
Emany approaches being taken and their various stages of What makes this doubly exciting is that a Naples resident is
development. Lots of ideas, but so far only limited progress. helping to make it happen.
To dream the impossible dream (“Man of la Mancha”) His name is Ali Azad. He’s a Quaise Energy board member,
Here’s an impossible dream to consider. Suppose you could tap the most recent stop in an illustrious career that has spanned
into super-hot rock (400-500 degrees Celsius) anywhere on the decades in the energy services field and has included high-level
planet. Suppose you could then generate endless amounts of energy executive positions in numerous international companies. When he
by injecting water to create clean steam right where you need it – talks about energy, people listen.
next to population centers or military installations or abandoned Azad says the key question for “hot-
power stations. No long range electrical transmission lines would be rock geothermal” is how deep you can go as
needed. a function of input power that comes from
This is my quest the grid. What is the loss of power density?
An audacious start up, Quaise Energy, is trying to do just that. What makes the technology so
Based on licensed technology from MIT, Quaise is developing promising, he says, is that even if the target
deep-well drilling to reach depths never before routinely achieved 10-20 km depths cannot be achieved,
(10-20 kilometers) to deliver energy right where it’s needed. And something less may still reach hot rock
it just might work. The technology has been scaled up 100 fold and in many places of the world. It doesn’t
pilot testing is just around the corner. have to be a home run to be economically
No matter how hopeless, no matter how far attractive and provide environmental benefits.
The centerpiece of this technology is a high density low-wave- Azad is particularly excited about so-called “brownfield”
length beam, an electron generator called a Gyrotron that literally applications. An example is generating clean steam next to a
melts and vaporizes subsurface rock. One benefit is that it avoids decommissioned coal plant, using the existing coal fired turbines to
the need to add casings. Instead, by vitrifying deep rock, it creates generate power at what would be essentially discounted rates.
its own casing. Testing, now underway at an abandoned drilling site The real hope, of course, is that the full potential can be
in Texas, is determining the energy required to drill ever deeper and achieved – routinely cost effective drilling to 20 kilometer depths.
ever wider holes. The unreachable star
To reach hot rock is a lengthy process requiring an estimated That said Azad, would ensure “an endless supply of 100% clean,
2-4 weeks with attendant costs. Yet, it is projected to stack up well sustainable energy forever.”
against other clean-energy sources, with power densities far Dr. Trecker is a chemist and retired Pfizer executive living in Naples.
superior to those of solar, wind and hydroelectric.
Favorable test results in Texas could lead to a pilot operation
as early as 2026.

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