Mapping the future of geothermal energy production By EPN Staff Texas may hold much more geothermal energy potential than once thought, and existing oil wells may eventually be used to tap the Earth’s heat to generate electricity. A new mapping project from a geothermal booster group called Project InnerSpace shows a wide band of potential running inland along the Gulf Coast. Helen Doran, the project’s lead geologist, called the band “quite a large area very suitable for geothermal,” and a recent report from researchers at five Texas universities, who partnered with Project InnerSpace on the report, called the state a geothermal “sleeping giant." “The amount of heat energy beneath our feet is estimated to be many thousands of times larger than what we would need to power not only Texas, but the world,” the report concludes. Why it matters Geothermal is a very small, but growing, part of the energy mix worldwide. The industry has largely relied on areas where hot water bubbles to or near the surface, but emerging technology makes it possible to reach more abundant heat sources far deeper in the Earth. The Department of Energy said in October that geothermal technology “has shown compelling advances” and that next-generation geothermal “vastly expands” the resources available. “In a world where the U.S. grid will need 700-900 GW of additional clean firm capacity by 2050, next-gen geothermal could provide 90 GW by 2050, and up to 300 GW depending on the development of storage capabilities and other emerging technologies,” the department said. How it works Existing oil wells may be starting points for the industry in Texas. The state universities report says an estimated 25 million barrels of warm and hot water already bubble up from oil and gas wells across the United States. This hot water and steam is what turns a turbine to produce electricity, and the Department of Energy says the water often brings up lithium, a key element in batteries and other technology, providing another potential revenue stream for developers “with minimal environmental footprint.” During an online GeoMap demonstration last year, Doran – Project InnerSpace’s lead geologist – noted multiple Texas wells producing high temperature fluids “with relatively high lithium concentrations.” The challenge is extracting the lithium in a cost-effective manner. That research is underway now in California. Additional context New mapping software, released for North America last year, promises easier access to the copious information developers need to identify prime geothermal spots. Project InnerSpace says its GeoMap software, which anyone can access, includes 150 layers of information, showing hotspots, fault lines and lithosphere thickness along with key surface information like the location of existing power plants and power lines, population centers that need electricity and available tax incentives for energy projects. The mapping also shows military bases, in part because the Department of Defense is already funding pilot projects at bases in the western United States.
