For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, summer is here, schools are off, and the 2026 World Cup games are ongoing. I, for one, am planning some fun trips! Stay cool and enjoy this week’s edition!
Rasoul Sorkhabi
Editor, Core Elements
Two White Papers on Geothermal Power
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Geothermal electric power has huge pros and potential. See my previous coverage in Core Elements # 90, 84, 83, and 51.
This week, let’s look at two more recent reports.
University of Houston Geothermal White Paper
A white paper published by the University of Houston discusses opportunities and challenges in developing advanced geothermal systems.
Why geothermal?
Globally, geothermal power is second to solar power in terms of a low-carbon energy source with higher technical potential.
Geothermal power currently accounts for 0.8 percent of global energy demand.
Only 10 countries account for 90 percent of the current geothermal power production.
There are two types of geothermal:
Conventional geothermal systems: Shallow-level hydrothermal systems with temperatures less than 180 degrees Celsius
Advanced or next-generation geothermal systems: Deeper, high-temperature systems in tight reservoirs (hot dry rocks), including:
Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) with open-looped injector and producing wells that require hydraulic fracture stimulation
Closed-loop systems (CLS) that involve circulating fluid between well pairs through pipes
CLS is becoming an attractive technology in regions where EGS is not feasible due to water shortages or bans on hydraulic fracturing.
Looking ahead:
The U.S. Department of Energy projects that U.S. advanced geothermal power generation could reach 90 gigawatts by 2050—20 times the current capacity of geothermal power projects.
According to the UH report, geothermal power could provide up to 15 percent of global electricity if deeper reservoirs are accessed. This requires developing 800 megawatts of geothermal power, roughly the equivalent of the current electricity consumption of the United States and India combined.
EGS is pioneered by FORGE (Utah), Fervo (Utah), Quaise Energy (Oregon), Sage Geosystems (Texas), and Eavor Technologies (Canada).
The oil and gas industry, with its unique transferrable skillset, data, technologies, and supply chains, can play a pivotal role in developing cost-effective and feasible geothermal energy.
The report covers the “known geothermal resource areas” with high geothermal gradients and heat flow. Each has been historically developed for geothermal power production.
Geothermal states: The United States has 99 total geothermal power plants spread across the country. Here is a breakdown.
California has 53 power plants and a total installed capacity of 2,868 megawatts electrical (MWe). This represents 72 percent of the nation’s total.
Nevada has 32 plants and 892 MWe.
Utah has four plants and 88 MWe.
Oregon has four plants and 38 MWe.
Hawaii has two plants and 51 MWe.
Idaho has one plant and 18 MWe.
New Mexico has one plant and 14 MWe.
Alaska has two plants and 1 MWe.
Leading companies for new geothermal development:
Ormat Technologies (with 25 new projects) and Cyrq Energy (eight projects) are the top companies in conventional geothermal.
Fervo Energy (with four projects) is a leader in EGS.
Go deeper: AAPG's premier technical journal, Bulletin, recently published a special geothermal edition. Purchase your copy to see important new discoveries here.
Built for Interpreters
Connect seismic, geology, petrophysics, and planning workflows in one integrated interpretation environment.
Did you know there are a couple of “laws” about elderly scientists’ reactions to new research? Matthew Silverman sent the following quotes and examples about the reactions of elderly scientists to new scientific findings.
Arthurs Clark’s First Law (quoted from his 1962 book Profiles of the Future):
“If an elderly but distinguished scientist says that something is possible, he is almost certainly right; but if he says that it is impossible, he is very probably wrong.”
Here is an example in support of Clark’s law:
In 1896, Lord Kelvin, then age 72, said that he had “not the smallest molecule of faith in aerial navigation other than ballooning.”
Isaac Asimov’s Corollary to Clarke’s First Law (quoted from The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, February 1977):
“When, however, the lay public rallies round an idea that is denounced by distinguished but elderly scientists and supports that idea with great fervor and emotion, the distinguished but elderly scientists are then, after all, probably right.”
An example in support of Asimov’s idea: In 1989, Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons announced to the public that they had achieved cold fusion in a laboratory. The media got stirred up, but physicists were skeptical, and attempts to reproduce the results have failed.
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