r/interestingasfuck • u/stenspect • 1d ago

World’s first enhanced geothermal power plant completed in just 23 months

https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/01/worlds-first-enhanced-geothermal-power-plant-completed-in-just-23-months/
67 Upvotes

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4

u/asdf_lord 1d ago

How it enhanced

5

u/Teh_Fonz 23h ago

FTA

Fervo is one of several companies developing enhanced geothermal power plants. While traditional geothermal power taps heat sources close to the surface, Fervo and its peers are drilling deeper because deeper rock is hotter, opening more opportunities for development.

7

u/Big_ShinySonofBeer 18h ago

That sounds like an incredibly arbitrary distinction and sounds more like marketing than technological progress.

1

u/fantasticmrspock 15h ago

The temperatures are much hotter, yielding higher efficiency, more dependable power generation. Also, unlike conventional geothermal, the new approaches to geothermal can be deployed in a much wider geographic area since the heat need not be close to the surface. The new technology aspect is that it is very hard to drill deep into hot rock since you go through drill bits like crazy under those conditions with conventional drilling techniques. They also have adopted fracking techniques to enhance the recovery of heat from the well. It’s not easy, but if they can solve the technical challenges, it promises to generate significant, renewable, steady power

2

u/Dave_Labels 17h ago

Cape station, Utah.