Japanese fusion power plant engineering company Kyoto Fusion Engineering (Kyoto Fusioneering) has announced that it has received an order for a complete gyrotron system from Quaise Energy (Quaise), the company developing millimeter-wave drilling technology for superhot geothermal energy.
This marks the first time that Kyoto Fusioneering has received a gyrotron order for an application other than fusion energy. The high-power, long-pulse gyrotron will be a core element of the drilling technology being developed by Quaise. For Kyoto Fusioneering, it represents an opportunity to extend the design, manufacturing, and supply chain expertise cultivate in fusion energy to other adjacent energy fields.
Quaise had already announced the start of drilling at their first commercial-scale project, called Project Obsidian, located in Oregon. The development envisions electricity generation from a superhot geothermal resource, with a 50-MW capacity targeted for Phase I and a total 250-MW capacity for later stages. The company had recently closed a Series B funding round, raising USD 180 million in new investment.
One technology supporting multiple clean energy sources
With this opportunity, Kyoto Fusioneering now aims to expand their gyrotron business customer portfolio beyond the fusion sector to include deep geothermal energy and other industries. The goal for the company is to demonstrate that their fusion technology is highly versatile and can be adopted in other clean energy fields.
In September 2024, Kyoto Fusioneering was selected for the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO)’s Deep-Tech Startups Support Program in the Green Transformation (GX) field to develop high-power, continuous-operation gyrotrons and power supplies for superhot geothermal development. The Quaise order is the first commercial outcome of that work.
Japan is already one of the leading countries in installed geothermal power generation capacity. However, there is still plenty of untapped potential in harnessing high-temperature regions at greater depths. Kyoto Fusioneering is exploring the possibility of applying their technologies for next-generation geothermal development in Japan.
Source: Email correspondence
