AltaRock has figured out how to use fracking to get more heat out of a geothermal well, but work remains before the energy source can dent carbon emissions.
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| Setting up well logging equipment at the 55-29 well pad at the Newberry EGS Demonstration field site: a pipeline from the on-site water well provided clean groundwater for the injectivity test (lower right). The boom truck (left) was used to remove heavy parts from the wellhead before the logging truck (center) lowered scientific instruments into the well to collect data. (Courtesy AltaRock) |
The use of hydraulic fracturing has unlocked vast new reserves of natural gas. Now AltaRock, a startup based in Seattle, is developing technology that might do the same for geothermal resources, turning a marginal power source into a major source of carbon-free electricity and heat in the United States.
Earlier this year near the Newberry Volcano in Oregon, AltaRock demonstrated a key part of that technology, a process akin to fracking. Just as fracking involves pumping high-pressure liquid into underground shale formations to unlock natural gas and oil that’s been trapped there, the new technology could unlock heat trapped deep underground. Unlike solar and wind power, that heat would be available around the clock and in all sorts of weather.