Eavor VP of business development Neil Ethier was featured in an episode of the Currents podcast to discuss Eavor’s innovative and cost-competitive approach to globally scaling clean energy. Ethier was interviewed by host Todd Alexander to introduce Eavor’s approach to extracting energy, what is being done to make Eavor-Loop™ technology more accessible worldwide, and why greater interest is being generated for geothermal than ever before.
Eavor-Loop™ technology is gaining more attention as Eavor’s first commercial power plant drills its wellbores. The country has been impacted by the energy crisis sparked by geopolitical tensions, and German municipalities are now more inclined to invest money in clean tech start-ups. While initial investments may be high, the more power plants Eavor distributes, the more likely it is that the cost will come down– much like how it did for wind and solar.
Most geothermal sources provide baseload energy, but aspects like niche geography, induced seismicity, and high financial risk have prevented geothermal energy from achieving true worldwide potential.
As Ethier explains, Eavor’s technology changes that by creating its own subterranean radiator that absorbs energy in a conductive manner. Rather than struggling to locate an aquifer or induce permeability in bedrock, Eavor simply needs to find heat, which is in great abundance underneath the earth’s surface. Furthermore, the absence of fracking is what allows Eavor to successfully drill in Germany, and it unlocks potential in many other countries.
“With Eavor, by creating its own artificial reservoir by building this radiator, it alleviates the need to keep fluid running continuously through the reservoir. We can actually shut it down, and that allows more energy to be absorbed into the working fluid, then brought up to the surface to be dispatched whenever it’s needed,” said Ethier.
This ability to dispatch more efficiently without needing to remain on is an advantage that Eavor’s brand of Geoenergy has over other baseload sources, such as nuclear, as it avoids overwhelming the grid.
“If you run a 10MW capacity, you can run it to 10MW every hour of the day. Alternatively, you can run it for 12 hours at 20MW. So, you can prevent putting electrons onto the grid during the times of day when you don’t want them. If you can avoid that duck curve, if you can be flexible and turn it on when it’s needed most, between 4pm – 10pm or in the morning, that becomes a much more valuable resource. So, you can put out the same amount of energy in that 24 hour period, but we can choose when we want to dispatch it.”
To provide this technology to the world and be truly disruptive in the energy space, Eavor is licensing its technology, which will increase accessibility. Consequently, this would grant the United States and Canada greater energy security because it would allow the technology to be procured in-country.
“When you look at the geothermal world, the US is at a huge advantage where it has the ability to be the world leader in this technology. Your drilling technologies; no one does it better than in North America. We have all the drilling expertise. We have all of this cutting edge geothermal research and development. We have the opportunity to be the world leader; this big GDP export engine in North America.”
In fact, Eavor is breaking ground in western United States, and recently signed a corporation agreement with Sonoma Clean Power. California has substantial geothermal activity, but the state is searching for clean energy that minimizes water use and land footprint, as the threat of drought is prominent. As Ethier explains, Eavor’s technology can uniquely unlock potential in this region, as it’s the only geothermal technology that does not use an immense amount of water to maintain its reservoir.
Eavor’s success in various geographically diverse projects, from the proof of concept of Eavor-Lite™, to drilling the deepest and hottest geothermal well in New Mexico, to its first commercial project in Germany, Eavor has shown that its thermodynamics and operations work efficiently. Most of all, it proved that extracting energy this way is predictable, and will be for the next 50 years.
