Harnessing geothermal energy — a feat that would revolutionize the energy sector — may soon become a reality in Texas.
Several Texas universities and agencies have partnered to explore possibilities for harnessing and applying geothermal energy. The American Public Power Association detailed the results of this joint study on February 7.
The universities partnering to facilitate this study include Southern Methodist University, Rice University, Texas A&M University, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Houston.
Researchers in the study theorize that, if the state’s industries drill 15,000 geothermal wells for four consecutive years, these wells will produce the energy equivalent of all oil and gas used in Texas combined for electricity and heat. The study claims that every point on Earth at a depth of about 6 miles has enough heat for power production.
Scientists in the study also explain that creating these energy wells would not require fracking.
As The Dallas Express reported, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) has alleged that fracking operations cause seismic disruption, spurring thousands of tiny earthquakes daily. Tremors shook West Texas at the end of the year, some reaching a 5 on the Richter scale, although some with the Railroad Commission were not so quick to draw a connection between fracking and the earthquakes in the region.
Thus, without resorting to fracking, researchers claimed that the same technology currently found in the oil and gas industry could be used to produce between 20 and 43% in cost savings for the engineering of geothermal energy. Of those from this industry interviewed for the study, 70% indicated that no unsolvable technical challenges for geothermal would arise under this scheme.
Researchers project that these facilities’ annual operations and maintenance costs would be just over 2% of the total project costs.
The Texas Geothermal Alliance Energy Alliance (TXGEA) has also argued for the growing advantages presented by geothermal energy. However, it has also identified hindrances to adapting to this new industry, namely the uncertainty of cost. The organization recognized that these sites could cost untold millions and that some areas may not be suitable for the industry.
“We still don’t have any kind of risk mitigation in the U.S.,” said Amanda Kolker, laboratory program manager for geothermal with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory previously, according to the TXGEA.
“Geothermal does need some sort of government of public-private intervention,” she continued.
“This geothermal study presents a rare opportunity in polarized debates about the future of energy where renewable energy proponents and the oil and gas industry can support the same cause,” said David Monsma of the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation, which is funding the research according to a press release on January 24.
“It presents an overdue energy policy pathway toward increasing firm clean electricity that should bring everyone to the table,” he continued.
This study also calls for geothermal-specific legislative hearings, “direct-use geothermal heating and cooling grant” programs, and training programs to aid in transitioning fossil fuel workers to the new system.
Officials at the University of Texas in Austin claim that the study provides a roadmap for potential “global decarbonization” by the year 2050.
“The outcomes of this study are big, but so is the oil and gas industry, and the role of the industry is what has been the missing link in prior assessments about geothermal and its potential to scale,” said Jamie Beard, principal investigator of the study, according to Electrek.
“To achieve the outcomes reported, we would need an Apollo-style mobilization of effort globally, but that is what climate change requires of us. We’ve done Apollo before, let’s do it again,” he continued.