Geothermal energy (“the heat beneath our feet”) has long been hailed as a virtually inexhaustible source of abundant baseload power. In reality, it has remained a niche provider of renewable energy in the global energy mix, relying on geographically sparse hydrothermal resources limited to the “Ring of Fire”. In recent times, the dream of “geothermal anywhere” has reemerged with an explosion of concepts to extract heat from hot, dry rock (HDR), where there is heat but no aquifer. The concept is simple: to create a “heat exchanger” within the hot resource, and extract heat from it with a working fluid circulating between two or more wells. Several next-generation geothermal energy extraction approaches are being proposed and tested, including Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) connecting a producer and riser using a network of hydraulic fractures, advanced closed loop geothermal systems (AGS) systems that connect wells using multilaterals, closed loop geothermal systems (CLGS), and more.

In this seminar, we take a tour of the evolution of geothermal energy extraction, and how it has been applied across a range of resource temperatures, all the way to superhot rock (SHR). State-of-the-art in heat extraction, and the thermodynamic constraints on it, are presented. In all engineered geothermal systems, heat extraction is convective, while resource replenishment is conductive, resulting in thermal decline of the resource. We delve into this inevitable thermal decline, and show that it is governed by a nondimensional parameter Γ (analogous to the familiar Number of Transfer Units in classical heat exchanger design), and a nondimensional time, τ.  The performance of different engineered systems is examined using these scaling parameters. Regardless of resource temperature, it is possible to manage thermal decline and produce constant electrical power, maximizing the power and its longevity. Examples are shown to demonstrate power management.

Content will be available until August 15, 2026.

Register using link: https://www.blade-energy.com/register-to-watch/