Renewable energy is one of the main focuses of research aimed at alleviating the impact humans have on the environment. For this and other reasons we analyze below, thermal energy is on the rise. A Canadian startup called Eavor is changing that narrative: they have just developed a technology that promises to extract heat from the Earth safely and cleanly, and deliver it anywhere on the planet.
The project involves excavating several kilometers deep, where the temperature rises by around 30 degrees
As in other fields, the idea may seem simple, but the execution is far more complex. The project involves excavating several kilometers deep, where the temperature rises by around 30 degrees, and injecting cold water. At this point, circulating in this extremely hot environment, the steam can be used to generate electricity.
About the company, Eavor is a Next Generation Geothermal technology-based energy company led by a team dedicated to creating a clean, reliable, and affordable energy future on a global scale. Eavor’s solution (Eavor-Loop™) represents the world’s first truly scalable form of clean, baseload or dispatchable energy (heating, cooling & electrical power). Eavor achieves this by mitigating or eliminating many of the issues that have hindered traditional geothermal solutions, says the website of the company.
Scientists in New Mexico demonstrated that it was possible to harvest heat from fractures in the ground
Eavor-Loop is a utility scale geothermal system that mitigates many of the issues with traditional geothermal systems, which rely upon using wells to produce brine from a subsurface aquifer.
It’s important to remember that the United States has been experimenting with geothermal energy since the 1970s. At that time, scientists at the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico demonstrated that it was possible to harvest heat from fractures in the ground, said Jefferson Tester, a professor of sustainable energy systems at Cornell University, who participated in the project.
The difference between Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) and EGS lies, again, in scalability
In this sense, the main difference between traditional geothermal energy and Eavor-Loop, an Advanced Geothermal System (EGS), lies in scalability. Traditional geothermal energy has never been globally scalable, as the required conditions are very rare. Only in a few places in the world can a hot underground aquifer be found to extract hot liquid and generate usable energy. The difference between Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) and EGS lies, again, in scalability. While EGSs are more scalable than traditional geothermal energy, hydraulic fracturing of their own aquifer and liquid injection also depend on very specific conditions, also uncommon in the world.
The installation’s design are one of the most important thing of the whole process
This energy is currently being tested by the U.S. Air Force. The chosen location was Joint Base San Antonio, Texas, and the goal is to prove that it’s possible to power military installations with a clean, constant source of energy that’s independent of the traditional power grid. “It could be a model for future bases, both nationally and internationally. It is a privilege to work with the U.S. government and Chesapeake in the pursuit of energy resilience, security, and autonomy,” says John Redfern, Eavor’s president and CEO.
The installation’s design are one of the most important thing of the whole process. That it’s called Eavor-Loop, a system that works without a pump because of a physical phenomenon known as thermosiphon. This is where the heat generates enough pressure to keep the cycle in constant motion.
The Eavor-Loop is a closed system within which a proprietary working fluid is contained and circulated. The working fluid is not fluid from a reservoir flowing into our wells, it is a fluid added to the closed-loop Eavor-Loop to create an efficient radiator, much like a vehicle radiator circulates fluid in a closed loop to remove heat from a gasoline engine. thermal energy in texas
