There is heat beneath us, but there needs to be a pathway for fluids to travel in order to create electricity. The process is called enhanced geothermal technology. The technology would allow us to engineer conditions where there were none before.
Introduction to Enhanced Geothermal Systems
The Department of Energy makes the point that in order to generate electricity from geothermal resources, there must be heat, fluid, and permeability in order for the fluid to travel. An enhanced geothermal system (EGS) is taking that fluid that cannot permeate a mass of geothermal rock and engineering a path for the fluid to flow.
The fluid is pumped underground to a chamber where the rock is hot and the fluid can be heated to generate electricity. Enhanced geothermal technology is a process of engineering the access to the heat.
The Need for Enhanced Geothermal Technology
The Department of Energy sees the potential for these systems to be used in areas not previously considered for geothermal energy production. The logic is simple. Take two fields, both with the potential for geothermal energy. In one of them, the fluid can travel through the rock, but in the other, it cannot. The fields might share the same temperatures, but only one will produce electricity. The comparison is the difference between a resource and a demonstrated resource.
Conditions of the Rock Mass
The Department of Energy has funded multiple enhanced geothermal field demonstrations in various settings. With funding comes research, and the Department has identified the interrelationships among rock fractures, permeability, and stress, along with seismicity.
The reason for the research is the fact that each location will have different conditions. What works in one location has to be proven in another. Developers then have to prove the system will work in the target location.
Conclusion
Enhanced geothermal technology is researching how to engineer a path to the heat, but the technology is about more than just the engineered pathway. The technology faces the challenge of learning the rock as much as the equipment. Projects are likely to meet with promise and
peril. The successful projects will link the potential resources with demonstrated potential from the appropriate equipment.