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Geothermal Energy Has Enormous Potential. These 3 Technologies Could Help the Industry Dig Deeper, Hotter, and More Profitable Wells.
“The Fast Lane” series zooms in on some of the thousands of technologies born in the National Laboratory of the Rockies that companies can license today. This iteration focuses on technologies that could help geothermal companies maximize energy generation and profits.
In 1970, a team of Russian engineers started drilling what would end up being the deepest human-made hole on Earth. The so-called Kola Borehole took 20 years to dig and plummets more than 7.5 miles below a red-tinged Russian tundra.
Why stop there? At that depth, temperatures soared above 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Rock oozed, honey-like. Drills got stuck; wires shorted; money ran out. The equipment—and their human builders—had reached their limit.
