GreenFire Energy awarded funding for demonstration project at The Geysers
Geothermal plant at the Geysers, California/ U.S. (source: ThinkGeoEnergy, creative commons)
Alexander Richter
17 Feb 2022
The California Energy Commission has awarded $2.7 million to GreenFire Energy Inc. for demonstration of its geothermal GreenLoop technology at The Geysers in California in partnership with Calpine Corp.
In a release shared today, GreenFire Energy Inc. announced that it was awarded more than $2.7 million by the California Energy Commission (CEC) to install its Steam Dominated GreenLoop (SDGL) technology at The Geysers geothermal field in California. GreenFire Energy will work closely with Calpine Corporation’s indirect subsidiary, Geysers Power Company, LLC to finalize agreements and host the demonstration project at its facilities at The Geysers in California, USA.
Funding for the test well was provided through the CEC’s Bringing Rapid Innovation Development to Green Energy (BRIDGE) program, which awards follow-on funding for promising energy technologies that previously received an award from an eligible CEC program or U.S. federal agency. GreenFire Energy received a CEC grant in 2017 for its demonstration of a closed-loop technology at the Coso geothermal field in Coso, California.
A large portion of The Geysers geothermal resource mainly produces superheated steam. This project will demonstrate the use of GreenFire Energy’s SDGL technology to economically produce power without impacting the geothermal reservoir’s capacity or reducing resource pressure in steam dominated reservoirs.
To demonstrate the SDGL technology, GreenFire Energy will install a specialized down bore heat exchanger in an existing low-production well. Results will be analyzed using proprietary GreenLoop Accurate Resource and Project Analytics to determine the technical and economic feasibility of using SDGL at full scale at The Geysers and in other steam or 2-phase dominated geothermal resources in California and beyond.
“The CEC is proud to support this innovative demonstration of geothermal technology,” said CEC Chair David Hochschild. “Tapping into this valuable renewable resource provides yet another pathway for California to lead the way to a clean energy future.”
Funding for the BRIDGE program comes from the CEC’s Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) program. EPIC is California’s premier clean energy research program.
The Geysers, located north of San Francisco, California, is the single largest geothermal resource in operation in the world. Geysers Power Company’s operation at The Geysers has 13 geothermal power plants generating 725 MW representing about 10 percent of California’s renewable electric energy and 34 percent of the U.S. geothermal generation making it the largest geothermal power producer in the U.S. “We are excited about the opportunity to work with GreenFire to deploy this innovative technology at The Geysers” said Calpine’s Robert Parker, Vice President of Geothermal Regional Operations. “This is a natural part of Calpine’s ongoing comprehensive strategy that includes major investments in geothermal, grid-connected storage, and high-efficiency plants to power a cleaner future. As we continue to explore state-of-the art technologies, it is our hope that it is just the beginning of what we can accomplish to sustain and enhance The Geysers operations to help California meet its renewable goals.”
“GreenFire Energy’s Steam Dominated GreenLoop technology has tremendous potential to sustainably expand power production from steam and 2-phase dominated geothermal fields worldwide. Additionally, the economics of our solutions are transformational in the geothermal industry where we can retrofit underproducing wells, expand production from such resources with new wells, and enable greenfield projects, too, in each case with lower-cost energy and higher return on investments (ROIs),” says Joseph Scherer, CEO, GreenFire Energy Inc.
Learn more about GreenFire Energy’s SDGL technology in the recent research paper “Closed-Loop Geothermal in Steam Dominated Reservoirs,” that is available on GreenFire Energy’s website.
Source: company release
