socialmedian: Australian Geodynamics wins $90M to make hot-rock power a reality

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Australian Geodynamics wins $90M to make hot-rock power a reality

Source: VentureBeat

Nov 06, 2009

Summary

Geodynamics, a company that draws emissions-free power from hot fractured rocks beneath the earth’s surface, has just won $90 million from Australia’s Renewable Energy Demonstration Program.

The Hot Fractured Rock (HFR) technique is basically the extraction of the earth’s heat from broken granite over three kilometers deep in the planet’s crust. The rocks are astoundingly hot — making it sustainable to siphon off some of the heat for electricity (assuming the earth’s core doesn’t cool down anytime soon).

Geodynamics’ process is largely based on previously developed technologies. The oil industry, for one, has made drilling to these depths something of an art form. And standard geothermal power systems provided the theoretic background for HFR.

The simplest HFR power stations would use one injection well and two production wells. Water is pumped under high pressure (in very stout pipes) into the heat exchanger 3 kilometers or more under the earth’s surface. The water is then heated beyond its normal boiling point while remaining a liquid due to the pressure and t

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