Geothermal from abandoned oil wells – initiative finalist in 2017 MIT Clean Energy Prize
With an entry on utilising geothermal energy from abandoned oil wells, a team from MIT managed to be a finalist in the 2017 MIT Clean Energy Prize, an annual business plan pitching contest at MIT.
An initiative out of MIT in Boston, Massachusetts in the U.S. that looks into utilising abandoned oil wells for power generations was one of the finalists for the 2017 MIT Clean energy Prize. As part of this business plan pitching contest, sponsored by GE Ventures, the Eden Geothermal Initiative was set up to “develop solutions that make geothermal heat extraction a reliable resource during the global shift to renewable energy. Revolutionizing geothermal by tapping into pre-drilled geothermal reservoirs, providing cheap and effective heat mining technology, and supplying sustainable heat and electricity to thousands of homes across the globe.”
While it seems like the initiative did not win the competition, it is at least great to see that this topic found its way into this great pitching contest and thereby making a case for geothermal energy and the opportunities provided by utilising abandoned oil and gas wells.
Here the link to the initiative (pdf) and its presentation.