Central Oregon’s Newberry Volcano region has been a hot spot for geothermal power experiments for decades. The latest project involves digging deep to access so-called “super hot rock.”
Alain Bonneville is the Chief Geoscientist at Mazama Energy, which recently received a $20 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. He told KLCC that cost has been a major barrier for enhanced geothermal systems, or EGS.
“What we want to do with super hot EGS is to make it affordable," he said. "By going deeper and hotter, we can produce more electricity for the same amount of investment.”
The test site west of Newberry Volcano will use an existing well. Late this year, after testing the equipment and systems, Mazama plans to dig at least 2 1/2 miles deep to where the heat exceeds 700 F and is in a “supercritical” state.
Bonneville said this has never been done, and many companies and countries are interested in the results. He said after drilling the first well, they’ll create fractures for water to travel across, then drill another well. To create steam power, they’ll inject cold water into the first well, which will heat up from the super hot rock. The resulting super hot water will be pumped to the surface through the second well.
Bonneville said the project is intended to demonstrate the science. There will not be a power plant at Newberry Crater. He said geothermal energy is renewable and can produce power 24 hours a day, and the goal is to get the price down close to that of wind and solar energy.
Mazama is monitoring the area for potential seismic activity. Bonneville said since drilling began in early January, there hasn’t been any significant movement. He said people can track the project’s seismicity in real time here.
He said many nearby hot springs and wells are also being tracked, to be sure there are no changes in their chemical makeup.