GreenFire Energy wins award in American-Made Challenge for geothermal manufacturing

Among the winners for the U.S. Department of Energy’s American-Made Geothermal Manufacturing Prize, is GreenFire Energy, as announced by the company in October 2020.

The award was made at the Geothermal Resource Council’s 2020 Virtual Annual Meeting & Expo. GreenFire Energy’s submission, “Innovation: Expanding Geothermal Energy Solutions,” proposes the development of a thermal-drive pump using applied manufacturing techniques. The innovation will reduce electric power consumption in many large-scale pumping applications. The Geothermal Prize award provides funding in recognition of the initial innovation and provides incentives for further product development.

Moving large volumes of fluid in onshore and offshore oil fields, and in geothermal projects, requires energy-intensive pumping. The inefficiency and unreliability of downhole submersible pumps results in high power bills, significant greenhouse gas emissions, and considerable downtime. In contrast, GreenFire Energy’s thermal-drive pump will make direct use of geothermal energy instead of using electricity to move fluids with no greenhouse gas emissions. And, because thermal-drive pumps are designed for easy wireline retrieval and do not depend on heat sensitive electronic parts, expensive downtime will be substantially reduced.

“GreenFire Energy takes pride in being at the forefront of clean energy innovation. The thermal-drive pump utilizes the same thermosiphon principle that moves some working fluids around our closed-loop geothermal energy systems. But its application in both geothermal and oil and gas industries underscores our leading role and commitment to the transition from fossil fuels toward clean geothermal energy. We are pleased to be a winner of the U.S. Department of Energy’s American-Made Geothermal Prize,” said Joseph Scherer, chief executive officer, GreenFire Energy Inc.

Source: company release by email