Thank you to Cindy Taff, CEO of Sage Geosystems, for joining us on Cleaning Up. Sign up to the Cleaning Up Newsletter to get all the latest from the podcast at cleaninguppod.substack.com
Very good interview outlining a very exciting energy technology. Enhanced Geothermal Electricity Generation technology has the potential to provide a major portion of electricity generation and industrial heat globally. It is inherently superior to weather bases solutions such as solar and wind without the downsides of fossil fuel based solutions with low net system capital & operating costs,small footprint,flexibility of siting,inherent 24/7 availability,fast ramping & inherent grid services capabilities. While the work being done by Sage looks impressive,companies such as Fervo Energy are even further advanced in their Enhanced Geothermal energy deployments with an existing operating facility feeding a Google Data Centre and a PPA committment for ~320MW plant supplying Southern California Edison by 2026.
Great episode, well done Bry. Really speaks to 1) the proliferation of companies trying to crack the code on dispatchable renewable power in different ways; and 2) the accelerating exodus of talent from oil and gas to clean energy.
This podcast was excellent Michael. One of my favorites from Cleaning Up. So much good information in this one. The only question that didn't get asked though is why they don't go for horizontal drilling. That seems like a no-brainer for me. It would increase the efficiency of a well by a lot. So why isn't Sage doing that? Because 70% to 75% efficiency seems a bit low to me. They should be able to reach 80% to 85% efficiency, no?
@@Scubongo you mean like Eavor from Canada? A different technology but also interesting from a different angle. Let's hope both can advance enough to scale up.
Using Coal and Gas generators with Grid connections are an obvious target! Very exciting addition to Solar & Wind and even the future in so many areas!
Fantastic episode! Good to know so many people from the oil and gas industry are looking for ways into cleaner parts of the economy. The more the merrier. ¡Viva la revolución verde!
Thank you for this presentation. I am very enthusiastic about geothermal baseload. I have never thought of geothermal as a source for long term energy storage, which could solve some big problems. I live on the Florida Platform which is a 10,000 foot thick slab of Carbonate (sea shell) rock, with the east side being thinner. Interested to see how hot the rocks are under the carbonate layer. Of course, in Florida finding cool rocks would also be useful.
Colorado has an ambitious geothermal program "The Heat Beneath Our Feet". Many connections to exiting companies and plans for pilot programs throughout the state.
Sage geothermal systems (Taff states): "...you get three to six megawatt net output for a two-well pair, so you're gonna have to drill a lot of wells..." (I think that comes out to around 70 wells for the upcoming planned 150 megawatt Meta plant !). I had no idea it would take that many wells- Wow!
Interesting episode. The ideal would be a company comes along and can drill and produce baseload power, anywhere. However it seems to be the case that the geology of different regions is too variant. And therefore its hard to see how this can scale up in time. But worth a try.
That would be Canadian closed-loop geothermal leader, Eavor - whom I used to advise. Here is the episode with their CEO, John Redfern: ua-cam.com/video/MU8TDupVvjM/v-deo.htmlsi=kcl_CBQH4ROYo1T9
I am much more hopeful about geothermal and this is a great educational resource. Curious approx cost for 2nd gen geothermal that can be deployed more widely in $/MW capacity.
This interview and their website doesn´t explain how they capture both mechanical, from pressure, and heat energy from the wells. They need to simplify their story, very hard for someone with a non-technical background to understand their business case.
Can you pulse geothermal? Solar is really successful in California during the day but useless at night. Battery storage is expensive. Geothermal problem is taking out too much heat and then having to replace the wells. It seems plausible to send water down geothermal holes in the evening and reap the geothermal heat during the evening and night. If the heat is only removed 1/2 the time, only when costs are in your favor, then wells have time to return to their ambient temperature at that depth.
Did you listen to the episode? Sage wants to store energy underground mechanically, by pumping water underground to inflate fracked cracks. Heating water electrically to a few hundred degrees C, pumping out underground, extracting it and generating power would have a cycle efficiency sub 10%, possibly sub 5%.
geothernal is consistent as opposed to solar or wind which isn't. Plus you don't have giant towers killing birds or the mess of decommissioning the damn things when it comes time to retire them.
Apart from the systems already operating, and they have been doing so for such a long time without much expansion because of the many difficulties, then it's better to watch and wait for a proven new approach, much as it is for the other technologies like batteries etc to make a real Carbon free difference. Otherwise we will continue to think it is fossil fuel b-s propaganda until we're compelled to know differently.
Thank you to Cindy Taff, CEO of Sage Geosystems, for joining us on Cleaning Up. Sign up to the Cleaning Up Newsletter to get all the latest from the podcast at cleaninguppod.substack.com
Very informative, thank you for the wonderful episode.
Very good interview outlining a very exciting energy technology.
Enhanced Geothermal Electricity Generation technology has the potential to provide a major portion of electricity generation and industrial heat globally.
It is inherently superior to weather bases solutions such as solar and wind without the downsides of fossil fuel based solutions with low net system capital & operating costs,small footprint,flexibility of siting,inherent 24/7 availability,fast ramping & inherent grid services capabilities.
While the work being done by Sage looks impressive,companies such as Fervo Energy are even further advanced in their Enhanced Geothermal energy deployments with an existing operating facility feeding a Google Data Centre and a PPA committment for ~320MW plant supplying Southern California Edison by 2026.
Great episode, well done Bry. Really speaks to 1) the proliferation of companies trying to crack the code on dispatchable renewable power in different ways; and 2) the accelerating exodus of talent from oil and gas to clean energy.
This podcast was excellent Michael. One of my favorites from Cleaning Up. So much good information in this one. The only question that didn't get asked though is why they don't go for horizontal drilling. That seems like a no-brainer for me. It would increase the efficiency of a well by a lot. So why isn't Sage doing that? Because 70% to 75% efficiency seems a bit low to me. They should be able to reach 80% to 85% efficiency, no?
@@Scubongo you mean like Eavor from Canada? A different technology but also interesting from a different angle. Let's hope both can advance enough to scale up.
@@peteglass3496 I love Eavor, but my favorite is Fervo. They are doing the horizontal fracking.
@@Scubongo thanks, I'll look them up.
Using Coal and Gas generators with Grid connections are an obvious target! Very exciting addition to Solar & Wind and even the future in so many areas!
Fantastic episode! Good to know so many people from the oil and gas industry are looking for ways into cleaner parts of the economy. The more the merrier. ¡Viva la revolución verde!
Thank you for this presentation. I am very enthusiastic about geothermal baseload. I have never thought of geothermal as a source for long term energy storage, which could solve some big problems. I live on the Florida Platform which is a 10,000 foot thick slab of Carbonate (sea shell) rock, with the east side being thinner. Interested to see how hot the rocks are under the carbonate layer. Of course, in Florida finding cool rocks would also be useful.
Colorado has an ambitious geothermal program "The Heat Beneath Our Feet". Many connections to exiting companies and plans for pilot programs throughout the state.
Nice open conversation from an engaging expert in her field. Learnt some interesting stuff.
Sage geothermal systems (Taff states): "...you get three to six megawatt net output for a two-well pair, so you're gonna have to drill a lot of wells..." (I think that comes out to around 70 wells for the upcoming planned 150 megawatt Meta plant !). I had no idea it would take that many wells- Wow!
Interesting episode. The ideal would be a company comes along and can drill and produce baseload power, anywhere. However it seems to be the case that the geology of different regions is too variant. And therefore its hard to see how this can scale up in time. But worth a try.
That would be Canadian closed-loop geothermal leader, Eavor - whom I used to advise. Here is the episode with their CEO, John Redfern:
ua-cam.com/video/MU8TDupVvjM/v-deo.htmlsi=kcl_CBQH4ROYo1T9
@@MLiebreich thanks, will check them out
I am much more hopeful about geothermal and this is a great educational resource. Curious approx cost for 2nd gen geothermal that can be deployed more widely in $/MW capacity.
Great podcast
This interview and their website doesn´t explain how they capture both mechanical, from pressure, and heat energy from the wells. They need to simplify their story, very hard for someone with a non-technical background to understand their business case.
Yeah. I was a bit vague about how this actually works. Is there a page/talk I can see which has some more technical detail?
Can you pulse geothermal?
Solar is really successful in California during the day but useless at night. Battery storage is expensive.
Geothermal problem is taking out too much heat and then having to replace the wells.
It seems plausible to send water down geothermal holes in the evening and reap the geothermal heat during the evening and night. If the heat is only removed 1/2 the time, only when costs are in your favor, then wells have time to return to their ambient temperature at that depth.
Did you listen to the episode? Sage wants to store energy underground mechanically, by pumping water underground to inflate fracked cracks.
Heating water electrically to a few hundred degrees C, pumping out underground, extracting it and generating power would have a cycle efficiency sub 10%, possibly sub 5%.
Geothermal going to eat coal's breakfast
geothernal is consistent as opposed to solar or wind which isn't. Plus you don't have giant towers killing birds or the mess of decommissioning the damn things when it comes time to retire them.
Apart from the systems already operating, and they have been doing so for such a long time without much expansion because of the many difficulties, then it's better to watch and wait for a proven new approach, much as it is for the other technologies like batteries etc to make a real Carbon free difference. Otherwise we will continue to think it is fossil fuel b-s propaganda until we're compelled to know differently.