OU unveils geothermal drill that could change world of energy

The University of Oklahoma on Tuesday unveiled a drilling rig one official said could change the world in the race to access geothermal pockets below the earth's surface that can power communities with a single dig.

The geothermal drilling rig, called the nation's first by OU, is 17 feet tall and was conceptualized by a master's student at OU. It will be tested in a few years to reach an area below the Earth's surface where its center heats pockets that will be tapped to create steam vents that power turbines that in turn will generate electricity.

Saeed Salehi, associate professor of petroleum engineering at OU's Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering, said a single pair of vents will produce enough energy to power 2,000 homes per day.

"It would produce roughly 20 megawatts power, which is roughly enough to power 2,000 homes per day instantaneously," Salehi said. "But that is only from two wells. If you have 20 wells, you can have roughly 20,000 homes or more."

Each vent operation is dug in pairs of two holes, one for the upcoming vent, and another for water.

"So what happens is you spray water down one, and the hot steam comes up the other to power the turbine," said Andrew Van Noy, CEO of DeepPower Inc., which has partnered with OU to build the rig.

Orkhan Khankishiyev, a masters student at OU, designed the rig with help from his department, which includes Salehi.

"This was just an idea a few months ago, but now it is a reality and we are looking forward to making it fully-functional, fully-automated, and tested," Khankishiyev said.

He said technology exists to drill beneath the earth's surface, as has been done in hydraulic fracturing operations, but this rig seeks to decrease the time required to drill these holes.

"Those technologies that we are trying to develop, hopefully it will increase the speed at which we are drilling, decrease the cost, and it will make a huge impact in the geothermal industry," he said.

Prior to his work at OU, Khankishiyev worked full time offshore as a drilling geologist.

"I wanted to make an impact that counts, so that's why I left my job in my country to come here and work with people like Dr. Salehi to make these ideas real," he said.

Van Noy said these thermal vents are small and can be placed anywhere because they do not produce pollution.

"A typical hole has an 8-9 inch circumference, so it's not very large," Van Noy said. "So imagine having those six, seven miles deep, can produce enough power to match 320 acres of solar fields."

Salehi said a challenge is that drilling to reach thermal pockets requires a greater depth than what is typically performed in hydraulic fracturing.

Temperatures are also hotter the closer they reach the earth's core, he said.

"For typical oil and gas technologies right now, you go to depths of 1,000 to 10,000 feet. That goes to a temperature of less than 180 degrees," he said. "Now we’re talking about drilling as deep as 20,000 feet with temperatures between 600 and 700 degrees."

Salehi said while testing is two to five years away, once it is complete, the world will change overnight, as companies around the world are going to want access to geothermal energy.

"The earth is like a sauna under your feet," he said. "You can do it in your backyard. You can do it in Texas. You can do it in Alaska. Some places you go shallower, and some places you go deeper. Then that's that. It is an infinite battery."

He clarified that the drilling would require proper zoning, but in principle because of the size of the operation, steam vents could fit in someone's backyard.

John Antonio, interim dean of the Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy at OU, said the university is interested in drilling in practice, and not just in theory.

"It's not just a simulation study. It's about building a real artifact to prove the concept," Antonio said. "This is a first in the nation person-to-world device that our engineers and scientists have developed with DeepPower, and this is going to be this has the potential to really be game changing."

Van Noy did not disclose where the first holes will be drilled.

"We’re not quite to that point yet to determine if [Oklahoma] is where we do it," he said. "Once we can establish that the theory works, we’ll have to decide where we start drilling the first hole."

In the next 10 years, Salehi expects this technology to become standard around the world.

"When fracking was developed, it happened in less than 10 years," he said. "Back in 2003, nobody was talking about oil from shale. In 2013. Everybody was drilling fracking in Oklahoma. It happened in 10 years, so I wouldn't be surprised if in 10 years, we’ll see drilling for geothermal energy as the norm."

Brian King covers education and politics for The Transcript. Reach him at [email protected].

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