Beneath the Earth’s surface lies a largely untapped source of energy: geothermal heat.
Jamie Beard, the executive director of Project InnerSpace, a nonprofit dedicated to accelerating geothermal power development, explains: “The core of our Earth is a molten ball of energy with temperatures akin to the surface of the sun. Consequently, the ground beneath us is incredibly hot.”
Underground reservoirs of hot water and steam can provide clean heat, which can be harnessed to drive turbines that generate electricity in power plants or to power industrial boilers in factories.
In the United States, geothermal power plants are primarily located in Hawaii and the Western states, where underground heat is closer to the Earth’s surface. To establish geothermal power plants in other regions of the country, deeper drilling would be necessary.
“Drilling is expensive, and this cost has significantly hindered the progress of geothermal energy,” Beard notes.
However, she mentions that recent technological advances could make geothermal drilling easier and more affordable.
“These advancements open up new frontiers for geothermal energy, which is really exciting and promising,” Beard says.
If deep drilling becomes feasible in new areas, geothermal energy could play a more substantial role in the global shift towards clean energy.
Enteq Technologies plc (LON:NTQ) develops and supplies equipment for Measurement, Logging and Geo-steering while drilling of wells for the Geothermal, Oil and Gas markets.
