DeepPower, Inc., the developer of a breakthrough geothermal drilling technology, announced that a rate of penetration (ROP) modeling performed by the University of Oklahoma of its patent-pending drilling technology, indicates a 600% increase in drilling rate is possible compared to some conventional geothermal drilling methods and a more than 300% increase compared to competing millimeter wave drilling technology.
A further techno-economic study will be required to estimate the resulting cost of geothermal energy per kilowatt-hour (kWh). However, a preliminary estimate can be obtained based on ROP. For example, a geothermal well can be drilled to a depth of 26,000 feet in approximately 75 days, at a 10 ft/hr average ROP (the approximate rate for conventional geothermal drilling) at an approximate cost of $37.5 million (assuming $500K/day drilling cost). If we can achieve our potential drilling rate improvement of 600% (60 ft/hr), then the same well can be drilled in approximately 12.5 days at an approximate cost of $6 million. This represents a dramatic cost reduction of more than $30 million, not including non-rotating times for well construction operations and any undetermined costs associated with new technology deployment.
Furthermore, conventional geothermal drilling equipment can only reach depths where the temperature is around 150-200 degrees Celsius. The holy grail of geothermal energy is 400 degrees Celsius, or approximately 10km deep, in a zone known as “Superhot Rock” where 10X more heat energy can be extracted than from more shallow wells. DeepPower’s patent-pending technology is being developed to go where conventional geothermal drills cannot go, deep into Superhot Rock. Compared to millimeter wave drilling, a Superhot Rock technology being developed by others in the industry, the DeepPower drilling technology is predicted to be faster by more than 300%.
“This is very exciting news,” said DeepPower CEO Andrew Van Noy. “Dr. Saeed Salehi and his team have now confirmed that there is a very real business case for their new drilling invention. The next phases of the techno-economic studies will provide us with a more comprehensive model regarding geothermal well cost, production, and other important metrics. These metrics will then drive the development of a lab-scale prototype, which will be optimized to build a pilot-scale drill. We congratulate Dr. Salehi and his team for this great progress and we look forward to more good news in the future.”
Last year, DeepPower entered into a sponsored research agreement with the University of Oklahoma for a project led by Dr. Salehi to develop a breakthrough geothermal drilling technology. DeepPower has an exclusive option to license all resulting technology from this project for commercialization.