Baker Hughes, DOE Continue Geothermal Research

September 26, 2022--Written by Paul Wiseman for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--World events and energy transition growing pains have combined to create concerns about electricity affordability and availability in the future, both near and distant. Most green energy options suffer from reliability issues, but geothermal holds great promise as a source of baseline power, a trait it would share with only hydroelectric power.

Geothermal, however, is still decades away from being widely practical for the grid. Its current use is generally confined to district heating or agricultural heating, both of which do reduce reliance on the grid but are small and very localized in scale. Aside from the geysers and steam vents in Yellowstone and rare other locations, heat from the earth's crust is harder to reach and even harder to harness economically.

Research in making geothermal affordable and more accessible is ongoing. Oil and gas service giant Baker Hughes Company (Houston, Texas) is expanding into that area, and a new U.S. government initiative also is geared toward that end.