USA: GRC Member Suggests North Dakota Geothermal Power Demonstration Project Technology to Oil & Gas Industry

How Brine Produces Electricity for Oil, Gas Fields (Dallas Innovates)

Will Gosnold,
University of North Dakota

The oil and gas industry doesn’t have to be at odds with renewable energy, in fact new technology could bind the two in a symbiotic relationship that turns wastewater into electricity.

Experts from universities and the energy sector explained the emerging opportunities recently at the SMU Geothermal Conference.

GRC Member Will Gosnold, a geophysics professor from the University of North Dakota, takes a totally different approach to the same problem. In the last decade, the Bakken Shale boom transformed North Dakota into the second largest oil producer in the country behind Texas.

Like West Texas, these wells produce a lot of water that comes out of the ground at high temperatures. Through a partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy, Continental Resources and Access Energy, he’s working on a geothermal system that captures that heat and uses it to produce electricity.

The goal is to produce electricity that the drillers and service companies can use on-site to run their equipment, including the pump jacks that bring the oil out of the ground.

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