Fervo Energy is an energy resource company focused on harnessing heat through enhanced geothermal systems (EGS). It was co-founded in 2017 by Tim Latimer, a mechanical engineer who worked as a drilling engineer at BHP until 2015. His departure from the oil and gas sector was driven by a desire to apply techniques observed during the shale revolution to geothermal extraction.[1][2]
On July 18, 2023, Fervo Energy announced that their first pilot geothermal plant was successful in generating 3.5 MW (megawatts) of baseload power and consistently maintained flow rates of 60 liters per second (l/s).
Financing
editFervo Energy has been backed by over $400 million USD in equity or non-equity backed funding and approximately $17 million in non-dilutive grants.[2] In the third quarter of 2022, Fervo Energy received $22 million of series C funding from a multitude of venture capitalists.[2] In 2021, Fervo Energy partnered with Alphabet, the parent company of Google, in hopes that Fervo can provide green electricity to Alphabet's cooling centres in the Las Vegas cloud region which met the three demands of Alphabet: baseload, green sourced and nearby.[3][4]
History
editShale fracking methodologies were proposed for geothermal use in 2013 by Mark Mclure, who became a technical consultant at Fervo energy.[2]
Mclure and co-author Sogo Shiowaza claimed that the combination of horizontal drilling and fracking had the potential to de-risk EGS systems. As long as sufficient heat is available, EGS can produce viable amounts of electrical energy.[5]
EGS has struggled in to become cost-competitive with other carbon-neutral electricity.[6] Vertical wells may encounter thermal short circuiting.[7] Shallower induced fractures transmit heat better than deeper ones. This is often due to less normal stress at shallower depth and higher viscosity while deeper fractures have the opposite effects.[5] This causes certain fractures to produce different water temperatures where they meet at the production well, negating heating effects.[5]
Another issue is zonal isolation. Modelling induced fracturing is simple, however modeling deeper holes is less accurate, leaving, leading to fractures disconnected from the production well.[5]
Horizontal drilling proposes to tackle both thermal short circuiting and zonal isolation by having the producing reservoir at a constant depth. By drilling the injection and production horizontally, all induced fractures are in the same normal stress field and temperature zone and thus have the same viscosity, eliminating the potential of short circuits. To induce optimal fractures, Fervo uses the plug and perforation method, again adopted from the unconventional oil industry. The plug and perforation system isolates stages to decrease chances of unwanted interactions when the fractures are first initiated.[8][9]
Pilot projects
editDrilling demonstrations & Nevada Operation
editOn July 18, 2023, Fervo Energy announced the completion of its first geothermal plant in Nevada.[10] Project Red marked the world's first use of horizontal wells in an EGS system. The primary aim was to demonstrate the viability of horizontal drilling in geothermal applications.[11] The two wells attained a true vertical depth of 8,000 feet, with horizontal sections extending 3,250 feet.[2] The project sustained drilling rates of 75 feet per hour, in a geological setting of hard metasedimentary and igneous formations. This ranked the project in the top quartile of drilling rates for hard rock formations.[2] The geothermal gradient measured approximately 75°C/km. The plant attained flow rates of 60 l/s,generating a baseload of 3.5MW of electric power, [2] roughly adequate to power 2000 households.[12]
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) had predicted the technical aspects of EGS over the years. In 2022 it had forecasted that flow rates of 60 l/s would be attainable under a "moderate case" scenario by 2035.[13] Fervo accomplished this in 2023, albeit at a notably higher levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). Fervo's ongoing efforts are focused on scaling up production and reducing costs.[2]
The site will become the Corsac Station Enhanced Geothermal Project, generating 115 MW, to be sold to NV Energy and in turn Google.
Cape Station Project
editOn September 25, 2023, Fervo held its groundbreaking ceremony for the Cape Station Geothermal Project in southwest Utah. Beaver County has geothermal gradients ranging from 50°C to 500°C/km. However, most boreholes indicated a geothermal gradient between 70°C and 100°C/km.[14] Fervo estimated that the plant has the potential to generate up to 400MW of electrical power by 2028. To increase electrical production and scale the previous design, Fervo proposed multiple horizontal wells stacked upon each other, with each level having its own injection and production well to limit short-circuiting. Lateral well lengths were proposed to be increased to beyond 10,000 feet, with casing diameter widened up to 13 3/8" to decrease wellbore friction.[2][15]
If successful, this project would be the world's largest EGS plant (by energy production), surpassing the Cooper Basin Project in Australia by 8-fold.[16] Fervo claimed that the project would generate over 6,000 jobs during construction, generating $437 million in wages.[2] It was expected to start generating electricity in 2026.[17]
In June 2024, Fervo announced the project had contracted to sell 320 MW to Southern California Edison.[18]
References
edit- ^ "The U.S. Shale Revolution". The Strauss Center. Retrieved February 16, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Norbeck, Jack Hunter; Latimer, Timothy (July 18, 2023). "Commercial-Scale Demonstration of a First-of-a-Kind Enhanced Geothermal System". eartharxiv.org (preprint submitted to EarthArXiv). Retrieved April 8, 2024.
- ^ "Fervo Energy Announces Technology Breakthrough in Next-Generation Geothermal - Fervo Energy". fervoenergy.com. July 18, 2023. Retrieved February 16, 2024.
- ^ Terrell, Michael (November 28, 2023). "A first-of-its-kind geothermal project is now operational". The Keyword. Google.
- ^ a b c d e Shiozawa, Sogo; McClure, Mark W. "EGS designs with horizontal wells, multiple stages, and proppant" (conference paper).
- ^ "DOE Launches New Energy Earthshot to Slash the Cost of Geothermal Power". Energy.gov. Retrieved March 21, 2024.
- ^ Gradl, Christian (February 2018). Review of Recent Unconventional Completion Innovations and their Applicability to EGS Wells. 43rd Workshop on Geothermal Reservoir Engineering (conference paper). Stanford, California.
- ^ "Multistage fracturing using plug-and-perf systems". www.worldoil.com. October 4, 2011. Retrieved February 18, 2024.
- ^ Munsell, Faith (September 28, 2017). "Pinpoint-Entry Fracturing vs. Plug and Perf". Keystone Energy Tools. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
- ^ Clifford, Catherine (July 18, 2023). "Fervo Energy hits milestone in using oil drilling technology to tap geothermal energy". CNBC. Retrieved March 21, 2024.
- ^ "America's first 'enhanced' geothermal plant just got up and running". Canary Media. November 28, 2023. Retrieved June 27, 2024.
- ^ "California ISO - Understanding electricity". www.caiso.com. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
- ^ "Geothermal | Electricity | 2023 | ATB | NREL". atb.nrel.gov. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
- ^ Blackett, Robert (February 2004). "GEOTHERMAL GRADIENT DATA FOR UTAH" (PDF). Stanford.
- ^ Penmatcha, V. R.; Arbabi, Sepehr; Aziz, Khalid (September 1, 1999). "Effects of Pressure Drop in Horizontal Wells and Optimum Well Length". SPE Journal. 4 (03): 215–223. doi:10.2118/57193-PA.
- ^ "Cooper Basin Enhanced Geothermal Systems". Australian Renewable Energy Agency. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
- ^ "Fracking for heat: Utah could become home to world's largest enhanced geothermal plant". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved June 27, 2024.
- ^ Roth, Sammy (June 25, 2024). "Column: Good news for 100% clean energy. Geothermal has finally arrived". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 27, 2024.