Proof of Concept - Demo

Team Building / Consortia for US Department of Energy EGS Demonstration Project Funding

Principal Recipient: American Geopower, LLC  (AGP)

Funding Requested: $12,000,000

AGP has filed a Letter of Intent on 02/21/22 with control number 2826-1504

Dear Potential Team Members - The purpose of the communication is to inform you of the opportunity to receive Federal Funding to undertake important work for the promotion and deepening of our ability to harness geothermal energy here in the United States. Specifically, we are targetting Supercritical Temperatures that will increase energy per volume flows making ROI more attractive and increasing the flow of investment to this clean 24/7 baseload source of domestic energy.

The Schedule is fairly tight, requiring a final application submission by June 16 of this year. The requirements for Federal Funding are significant and we would prefer team members with some experience in this realm. These are some of the key skills and knowledge we need for the project:

·       Geological expertise in well characteristics, heat gradients, convection flows, seismic features

·       Legal capacity to move permitting and address Environmental Regulations at all juridictional levels

·       Engineering know-how for well clean out, stimulation, drilling

·       Materials know-how to address high temperature limitations for tubing, heat exchangers, sensors, drills

·       Seismic Mitigation know-how / ability to set up proper protocol and maintain database

·       Labor Relations consultant to comply with Union rules and Health and Safety

·       Communications lead to establish early contact with community

·       Well geology and geothermal computer simulation

·       Heat Extraction System computer simulation

·       Teams members can be Higher Learning and Research Institutes (Universities), Non- profits, For profits, States and Municipalities.

·       We would like to engage with the NREL to validate our research and provide us with the best contacts and information

·       The EERE will have substantial involvement in work performed under awards made as a result of this FOA. EERE does not limit its involvement to the administrative requirements of the award. Instead, EERE has substantial involvement in the direction and redirection of the technical aspects of the project as a whole. 

EGS - Enhansed Geothermal Systems.  How are they defined?

•       Enhanced Geothermal Systems are engineered geothermal reservoirs, created where there is hot rock (175-300+°C), but little to no natural permeability and/or fluid saturation. During EGS development, subsurface permeability is enhanced via safe, well-engineered reservoir stimulation processes that re-open pre-existing fractures, create new ones, or a combination of both. These open conduits increase permeability and allow fluid to circulate throughout the hot rock. The fluid transports the otherwise stranded heat to the surface where clean, renewable electricity can be generated with current power generation technologies.

Does AGP tech qualify as EGS?

·      AGP is designed to tap the same heat range and particularly the superhot resouces above 375C

·      AGP does not require additional reservoirs to be created but can extract heat efficiently from these sources since salts are capable of functioning in the 175-300+C range.

·      A radiator style closed loop system can be run within these reservoirs that effectively pulls the heat but avoids direct interaction with the hydrology.

·      The molten salts from this system transfer heat to a water system that powers the generator.

·      Because AGP tech is capable of accessing this range of geothermal heat and even improves on “traditional” EGS, we believe it is both worthy and necessary to fund if we are to support the GeoVision goal of “providing 90 gigawatts-electric (GWe) firm, flexible power to the U.S. grid by 2050.”

AGP Abstract for Letter of Intent

American GeoPower, LLC, is a U.S. startup that holds 9 granted patents in geothermal heat extraction and storage. Our technology extracts heat at higher temperatures than conventional systems by using molten salts in a closed-loop system. Because our technology does not depend on locating natural hydrothermal resources or creating reservoirs, it can operate in a greater range of geological settings. While our systems can engineer heat enhancing conditions by increasing area and volumes in the field, they do not require fracking and hydrological injection to pull heat. This means we can eliminate two of the most common concerns related to EGS: seismic triggers and groundwater contamination. This modification should reduce permitting time, increase the possible range of locations and decrease drilling failure risks. Ideal conditions are to be found where subsurface lava flows exist and shallow wells can reach temperatures in the 375-500C range. Because molten salts remain liquid at these supercritical temperatures, AGP tech can extract energy where most EGS cannot. This means that with the same volume and flow of a conventional system, molten salts can extract up to 7 times as much heat energy when temperatures go above 375C and 220 bars of pressure.

AGP Patents Link (Google Patents)         

DOE’s Fourth Energy Earthshot Seeks to Cut the Cost of Enhanced Geothermal Systems by 90% by 2035, Delivering Clean, Affordable Power to Americans

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm today announced a new Department of Energy (DOE) goal to make enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) a widespread renewable energy option in the U.S. by cutting its cost by 90% to $45 per megawatt hour by 2035. The Enhanced Geothermal Shot DOE’s seeks to unlock the Earth’s nearly inexhaustible heat resources to provide reliable, clean power to American communities and expand opportunities for a robust domestic geothermal industry. More than five terawatts of heat resources—enough to meet the electricity needs of the entire world—exist in the United States. Capturing even a small fraction of this could affordably power over 40 million American homes. EGS can also enable technologies for widespread deployment of geothermal heating and cooling, which will further allow buildings and whole communities to decarbonize. Achieving the Enhanced Geothermal Shot will go a long way toward reaching President Biden’s goals of 100% carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035 and net-zero emissions across the U.S. economy by 2050.

“The United States has a vast, geothermal energy resource lying right beneath our feet, and this program will make it economical to bring that power to American households and businesses,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “DOE’s Enhanced Geothermal Shot will move geothermal technology from research and development to cost-effective commercial adoption, helping energy communities and workers transition to producing clean energy for the future.”

DOE is investing in research and development that will help the nation access its full geothermal potential and reach the Enhanced Geothermal Shot goals. Recent investments include $44 millionto help spur EGS innovations for DOE’s Frontier Observatory for Geothermal Energy Research (FORGE) field laboratory and up to $165 million to transfer best practices from oil and gas to advance both EGS and conventional geothermal. President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law also supports work to advance EGS with $84 million in funding to support four pilot EGS demonstration projects that will provide valuable information about EGS in different geographies and geologies.

EGS is a young technology with the potential to become a powerhouse of U.S. economic growth, especially for rural communities. Most geothermal jobs are inherently local and relate to well drilling and construction, which must be performed by a domestic workforce. The geothermal industry and workforce are also similar to oil and gas, presenting an opportunity to transition skilled workers, as well as entire communities, and equipment from fossil fuels to clean energy.

The Enhanced Geothermal Shot is the fourth Shot announced in DOE’s Energy Earthshots™ Initiative to help break down the biggest remaining scientific and technical barriers to tackling the climate crisis. Energy Earthshots support the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 while creating good-paying union jobs and growing the economy. Previously announced Energy Earthshots focus on hydrogen, carbon negative solutions, and long-term energy storage.

Geothermal energy currently generates about 3.7 gigawatts of electricity in the United States, but a substantial amount of geothermal energy is not accessible with current technology. Research and innovation to advance EGS drilling, and engineering can unlock those resources and put new, clean electricity on the grid. Simplified, EGS is a process of creating human-made underground reservoirs, which is accomplished by injecting fluid deep underground into naturally heated rocks that otherwise lack the fluid flow necessary to draw geothermal energy to the surface.

EGS resources are located deep underground, at least 4,000 feet. Conditions are extreme—hot temperatures, hot and abrasive rocks, and a corrosive environment—and come with significant unknowns. The Enhanced Geothermal Shot seeks to address these challenges by aggressively accelerating research, development, and demonstrations to better understand the subsurface, improve engineering to drill more wells faster, and capture more energy with larger wells and power plants.

The Enhanced Geothermal Shot will build on DOE’s EGS research and development and demonstration work, including at FORGE in Utah, the current flagship of DOE’s EGS research.

DOE plans to hold an Enhanced Geothermal Shot Summit to engage state and local communities, industry, and other stakeholders. DOE will continue to partner with other Federal Agencies such as the National Science Foundation to advance the state of the art and develop the workforce needed to support the clean energy transition.

Learn more about the Enhanced Geothermal Shot and DOE’s Geothermal Technologies Office. 

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GeoSalt Heat Storage and Transportation

A Case Study for Mount St. Augustine

“Anywhere” Geothermal Energy

Grid-scale geothermal energy production is theoretically possible anywhere on earth. Drill deep enough and the thermal gradient will reach temperatures hot enough to power entire cities (400C). However, “significant engineering innovations will be required to realize the full potential of superhot rock, such as rapid ultra-deep drilling methods, heat- resistant well materials and tools, and deep heat reservoir development in hot dry rock.”

Geothermal Energy Storage

Traditional geothermal electrical power generation occurs on-site with transmission lines extending to the the power grid. These transmission lines can add hundreds of millions of dollars to the cost of a project and make it prohibitively expensive to connect geothermal energy sources to consumers.

What if instead of generating power on-site, the extracted geothermal heat could be stored and transported? American GeoPower has patented a method that uses molten salts to tap heat from hot rocks (250-600C) that can do just that. It uses the same proven salts as Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) in a closed loop system that is more power dense and doesn’t require high pressures to operate.

Geothermal Energy Transport

Molten Salts can be fine-tuned to allow for greater temperature ranges (150-500C). The fact that they do not have to travel under pressure makes them potentially cheaper to transport than LNG. They would need heat insulated containers with temperature sensors and the ability to be heated back up to 130C in the event of freezing. Salts in a frozen state could still be transported back to the geothermal source and reactivated in this manner.

“Molten salts high-temperature properties such as the volumetric storage density, viscosity and transparency are similar to water at room temperature.

The major advantages of molten salts are low costs, non-toxicity, non-flammability, high thermal stabilities and low vapor pressures. The low vapor pressure results in storage designs without pressurized tanks.

Molten salts are suitable both as heat storage medium and heat transfer fluid (HTF). In general, there is experience with molten salts in a number of industrial applications related to heat treatment, electrochemical treatment and heat transfer for decades.”

Mount Saint Augustine

Mt Augustine is located less than 200 miles from Anchorage, AK, and is easily accessible by sea. Power producing Infrastructure onsite could be at risk from natural hazards making molten salt transport an appealing alternative.

“Development of a resource on Augustine ... would help Alaska meet its renewable energy targets. However, the viability of the resource on the island is totally unknown at this point. The two most often cited concerns are the distance from the island to the grid, and the presence of geologic hazards. Geologic hazards listed by the DNR include; volcanic ash clouds, ash fallout and volcanic bombs, pyroclastic flows, debris avalanches (as occurred on Augustine in 1883), tsunamis, earthquakes, directed blasts, lahars and floods, volcanic gases, and lava flow. The closest connection to the existing Railbelt grid is probably Nanwalek or Homer, about 50 miles away. However, if the Pebble prospect were developed this project would be only 15 miles away from Pebble's potential energy grid (at the port site for the mine).”

Commercial Potential

If a commercially viable resource is identified and a project designed, development of the project would likely include construction of wells and pipelines, a power plant with turbine and cooling system facilities, roads, personnel housing, transportation and maintenance facilities, and subsea power transmission lines most likely to Anchor Point or Homer (Kagel et al. 2007; Soltani et al. 2021). (italics added)

Alaska’s Energy Infrastructure

“The Railbelt electrical grid stretches from Fairbanks through Anchorage to the Kenai Peninsula and provides roughly 79 percent of the state’s electrical energy. Nearly 73 percent of the Railbelt’s electricity comes from natural gas, mostly supplied by one monopoly producer.

Major power generation facilities along the Railbelt include Chugach Electric Association’s (CEA) 332-MW natural gas-fired plant west of Anchorage at Beluga, Anchorage Municipal Light and Power’s (ML&P) 120 MW natural gas-fired Combined Heat and Power plant in Anchorage, CEA and ML&P’s 204 MW natural gas-fired power plant in Anchorage and Golden Valley Electric Association’s (GVEA) 181 MW facility near Fairbanks fueled by naphtha from the Trans-Alaska pipeline system. Homer Electric Association (HEA) has three natural gas fired power plants at Nikiski, Soldotna and Bernice Lake that total 204 MW and Matanuska Electric Association’s (MEA) 171-MW dual-fuel (gas or diesel) generation station near Eklutna was added in 2015.”

Thermal Heat and the Power Grid

Could the thermal energy from St Augustine replace what is produced by Anchorage Municipal Light and Power’s (ML&P) 120 MW natural gas-fired Combined Heat and Power plant in Anchorage? If temperatures of 450C are accessible, then the potential energy from three boreholes could theoretically replace the output from this power plant. This is borne out from studies in Iceland that found that one “supercritical” hot rock well could produce 36 MWe of energy:

“This means that a few superhot rock wells can bring substantial commercial energy to the surface. This high energy potential has been demonstrated in Iceland, where the Iceland Deep Drilling Project’s “Krafla” borehole produced natural superhot water at 452°C and an estimated 36 megawatts of energy (MWe) production potential. In comparison, a typical commercial hydrothermal geothermal project produces about 3-5 MW per well. For comparison, the Reykjanes geothermal field in Iceland, one of the hottest producing field in the world at 290-320°C, has 12 wells producing a total of 100 MWe from 2 turbines.15 Superhot rock energy has the potential to produce the same amount of heat in 2-3 wells.”

Shipping Heat

Offload temperatures: 500C assuming normal range for this type of volcanic source.

Temperature on arrival: Molten Salts lose approximately 1C degree of heat per day. This means that ten days transit at 500C would still have working heat of 490C.

Vessel type: Create towable low draft tank barges with holds and pumps capable of storing high temperatures.

Shipping containers: In future design containers that can be reheated at source to allow for freezing of salts and fungible use with CSP. Standardize for shipping on existing tankers, trains and trucks.

Description of Reception Terminal: Should be as near as possible to power plant for quick dispatch and turnaround adapted to 1C loss per day.

Energy output: A ship with 440,000 tons of molten salt at 500C that is kept at 150C after off loading will have an energy delta of 350C which amounts to 40 gigawatts per ship load.

Conclusion

Mt. Saint Augustine provides ideal geographical and geological conditions to introduce Geo-Salt storage and transport. It is easily accessed by ship and only a day’s travel up Cook Inlet to Anchorage and its power grid.

Alaska is fortunate to have a plentiful mix of energy which includes both fossil fuels and renewables. Geothermal is an ideal fit within these sources given the abundance of volcanic activity to be found within the state of Alaska and along the Aleutian Island chain.

This mode of energy transport can not only incentivize geothermal in remote locations but also creates a potential for energy exports to the continental USA and other energy hungry destinations.

AGP Tech Advantages

• Does not require artesian reservoir to raise heat substantially de-risking exploration and implementation.

• Closed-loop system reduces release of harmful gases and fluids into the environment enhancing potential for positive Environmental Impact Reports outcomes.

• Closed Loop system reduces parasitic pumping costs improving investment outcomes.

• Closed Loop system functions without fracking and its attendant seismic concerns improving community support.

• Maintenance costs are reduced because scaling is eliminated.

• Retrofitting existing geothermal can achieve similar results.

• Power Generators are happier running on distilled water steam.

• Storage of heat in Molten Salts improves load following capacity by creating a separate energy reservoir to modulate at will.

• Molten Salts can be delivered as heat energy in insulated containers over distances with at thermal loss of 1 degree Celsius per day.

• Molten Salts have a 30 year lifespan and can be recycled as fertilizer.

Target Markets

• Hydrogen Production through Pyrolysis

• Hydrogen Production through Electrolysis

• Geothermal energy companies looking to become more cost-efficient and environmentally responsible.

• Other thermal energy-producing facilities looking for efficient thermal energy storage solutions.

• Municipalities.

• High energy consumption industries.

• Industries in need of environmentally friendly heat sources.

• Waste management and water resource industries.

• Carbon credit buyers.

• Syngas and Bio-Crude producers.