Plasma-drilling technology breaks EXPO 2015 Milan

EXPO Milan 2015 provides an opportunity to seek solutions to the contradictions of our world. There are approximately 870 million people suffering from daily starvation. Food security is strongly dependent on effective energy supply that is continuously failing in developing countries. High energy volumes are just beneath our feet; even in the areas of drought disasters. Geothermal energy considered to be “energy for life” still remains untouchable. This quest needs a real ground-breaker.   

A real ground-breaker
Plasma based drilling technology by Slovak pioneers from GA Drilling enables an effective access to geothermal energy. This groundbreaking innovation takes part in EXPO 2015; recognized as world’s prestigious visionary showcase. It has the ability to drill economically regardless the depth and can be applicable at depth up to 10 km, which is the area suitable for extraction of hot geothermal reservoirs anywhere. This ground-breaking technology is built to let the geothermal heat cascade economy thrive in volumes currently not possible.
A geothermal heat cascade economy has the potential to create new jobs and local autonomous economies. The cascade consists of hydrogen production, electricity production, direct building heating and cooling, biotechnology reactors, aquaculture, fisheries, wellness, geothermal heat pumps, etc. In the second decade of the millennium, the geothermal energy is going to play more crucial role in the energy mix of countries around the globe.

Feeding the Planet
The theme of EXPO 2015 "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life" sums up the most important issues that human beings must address in an effective manner to safeguard life on the planet. An optimal balance between natural resources and the production of food and energy is a fundamental condition for ensuring the survival of the eco-system. The keywords here are: innovation, energy conservation, environmental protection and natural resources. It is one of the reasons, why innovative drilling technologies serving as the key to geothermal energy reservoirs need more promotion and global awareness.

EXPO 2015 is hosting Milan, Italy from 1st May to 31st October 2015. It is expected to welcome over 20 million visitors promoting more than 140 participating countries.

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Exceptional Interractive Presentation Of Geothermal Power Plant In Iceland

During Geothermal week in Reykjavik (3.-9. 10. 2010) we had a unique chance to visit many beautiful places in Iceland. One of them was geothermal power plant Hellisheiði. Its current production capacity is 213 MW. The power plant is situated in the Hengill area which represents one of the most extensive geothermal areas in Iceland.

 The power plant does not influence the environment in negative way. On the other hand, it products very low emissions of the greenhouse gases. Very interesting for us was an interactive creative model which simulates whole energy production process. Visitors can get a better idea about operation of geothermal power plants. Exceptional interactive presentation you can find on this address.

Google's Geothermal Adventure Failed

AltaRock Energy Inc, which is the start-up company backed by ICT giant Google, suspended Wednesday's drilling of its first geothermal well in California - the first test project ever. The company gave the reason for geologic anomalies. In addition, it stated that it will keep developing its Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) technology and is evaluating alternative well locations, EurActiv.sk/Reuters informs.

Although there is only a limited public information related to AltaRock Energy's demonstration project, we consider their case as a characteristic set of obstacles in deep geothermal sources utilization namely in EGS. This is a consequence of current state-of-the-art in reservoir stimulation or deep drilling. These technologies, mainly for the stimulation, are relatively untested in comparison to standard drilling techniques.

The question of reservoir stimulation is topical, because in depths more that 4 kilometers is the rock rather solid and natural fractures are rare. Our projection is that using traditional methods for reservoir creation, as we know them today in depths more than 5-6 km, the possible earthquake impact to the surface is lower in comparison to the same techniques used in 3 km. But what is more important, current technologies do not deterministically create the exchanger area, we are not able to develop it in projected way and we rely on the local unknown geological conditions, randomly created fractures and subsequent testes only.

We see the opportunity for the future in more radical innovations, because current “evolutionary” approach in research and development in this field is too slow and still not bringing acceptable results. The development of a quite new technology that will enable to create a reservoir using predictable engineering methods is needed. One of the most important parameter in this mission is to be able to create a fractures without unwanted side-effects like earthquakes. For example, company Geothermal Anywhere has in own research the technology that is able to create projected net of narrow fractures/tubes. "The target is to develop something like a giant underground radiator able to exchange the heat energy comparable to the traditional hydrothermal systems in Geysers or Island. Such technology is able to radically shift the geothermal energy segment to real utilization worldwide," says Mr. Igor Kocis.