Closed-loop geothermal ends the need for nuclear and fracking
New technology offers clean baseload energy and quick build time
FORGET about the nuclear renaissance. And fracking too.
Unknown to many, there is a new renewable energy technology that is far better placed to tackle the energy crisis and makes nuclear and fracking redundant.
Closed-loop geothermal provides baseload power, is relatively quick to deploy, can be built almost anywhere, has little to no negative impact on the environment and is a superior energy investment in every other respect.
Using liquid in a closed-loop system, closed-loop geothermal technology can convert the high temperatures deep underground into 24-hour electricity and heat.
A Canadian start-up called Eavor has already proved the concept, building a demonstration plant in Alberta in 2019. The company drilled two holes a mile and a half deep and more than a mile apart and then joined them together. In 46 days. Operators were collecting data and validating the system thermodynamics within six months of breaking turf. The entire project was completed within 18 months.
At a depth of a mile and a half the Alberta plant can produce only heat rather than power, but the pilot has shown Eavor’s technology works and the company will now drill deeper to get the higher temperatures required for electricity generation.
Eavor is already in the process of scaling up and commercialising, with Germany set to be the first European country to adopt closed-loop geothermal heat and power. An 8.2MW plant is being built in Geretsried, Bavaria, on a geothermal exploration site where two traditional geothermal drilling campaigns had previously failed.
Eavor’s plant is intended to provide heat and electricity to 4,900 homes and is expected to be fully operational by 2026, with output beginning as soon as 2024.
In an energy constrained world, where the need for new sources of power is urgent, why would anybody choose to wait ten years for a uranium nuclear power station to be built when they can have an always-on closed-loop geothermal plant in a fraction of the time?
And why would anyone go down the fracking route when wells lose half of their output within two years and when the environmental costs of doing it are considerable?
Closed-loop geothermal does not need volcanic rocks or an acquifer. Unlike nuclear, there is no need to be close to a river or the sea as no water is required. The geographical footprint is also tiny. Having redesigned the system since building in Alberta, Eavor says it can now put a plant on just 2.5 acres of land.
Eavor’s demonstration plant in Alberta, Canada
Once built there are no inputs required. No uranium needs to be mined, milled or transported. So the technology offers 100 per cent energy independence, whereas nuclear would leave a nation reliant upon the import of processed uranium in a world in which Kazakhstan would be the new Saudi Arabia.
Closed-loop geothermal plants can apparently last 100 years or more with no emissions, radioactive leaks or nuclear waste. There is no fracking needed, no earthquake risk with drilling and no chance of contaminating the water table. There is of course no possibility of a meltdown either. Unlike with nuclear, plants are insurable.
As the technology is scaled up, closed-loop geothermal plants should be economic to build and profitable to run without the need for Stalinist state subsidies and planning. By drilling six miles deep, Eavor believes it can get the cost of creating a megawatt hour of electricity to below $60 – at current exchange rates that is about £53.
On top of all that, closed-loop geothermal is not only load leading but also load levelling. This means it can be used to store the energy created by existing wind and solar projects, which would make intermittent renewables effectively baseload and far more efficient.
If nuclear is a cumbersome, expensive and environmentally questionable way of boiling water to create electricity, closed-loop geothermal is the simple, cheaper and environmentally sound alternative.
While nuclear is no longer required as a long-term fix for our energy security, fracking is not even a convincing short-term fix. It is a knee-jerk reaction to the energy crisis that offers relatively low energy returns on the energy required for drilling, is unsustainable in the long run and does nothing to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.
Ultimately it is worth remembering uranium is also just another fossil fuel, and transitioning to it will leave us with the same dilemmas at some point. Just like oil, coal and gas, there is only so much of it to be dug out of the ground – an energy-intensive activity in itself. Ore grades will decline over time, making it more expensive to produce and yielding even lower energy returns for the energy invested in providing the fuel needed to run nuclear power plants.
Such concerns are irrelevant with closed-loop geothermal, which finally ends the argument for a new generation of uranium power plants and should consign both the nuclear and fracking industries to the dustbin of history.
Once politicians wake up to closed-loop geothermal, they will quickly realise the futility of fracking. And the renewed push for new uranium nuclear will abruptly stop. As it should, since the expensive power plants we are currently constructing and planning are arguably already obsolete – a liability even before they have produced a single watt of electricity.
Eavor’s CEO John Redfern sums up the current situation succinctly.
He said: “The renewed interest in nuclear proves the real market need for firm yet clean energy.
“It also proves people still don't really have a clue that Eavor exists, because if they knew we existed, why would anyone waste their time with nuclear?”