New investment to accelerate commercialization of geothermal

With a strong oil and gas sector base, the State of Texas is clearly seeing some exciting development related to a pivot from oil and gas to geothermal energy. This is demonstrated by several interesting new start ups entering the geothermal space, such as Sage Geosystems Inc. (Sage). Earlier this year, we reported on the company’s planned project to utilise a closed-loop system to derive geothermal energy near a military installation in Texas. The company is working on efforts that would adapt current drilling techniques and equipment to access heat in sedimentary formations around the world.

Now the company, together with Nabors Industries (Nabors), and Virya, LLC (Virya) announce the signing of a $12 million financing led by Nabors. Nabors and Virya will invest $10 million and $2 million, respectively.

Nabors is a leading provider of advanced technology for the global energy industry, including advanced drilling automation capabilities, directional drilling services, and performance tools. Virya, LLC is an investment company investing in high potential impact on eliminating global greenhouse gas emissions or sequestering CO2. The company is focused on fast global commercialization of baseload clean energy sources needed for the carbon-free energy transition.

Investment into technology development and pilot plant

The proceeds of this financing will be utilized to further accelerate the development of Sage’s technologies and construction of their first commercial power plant.The teaming up of Sage, Virya, and Nabors will allow the partnership to realize significant synergies. Nabors has a wealth of strengths including broad global reach, technology development, deployment expertise, automation, and digitalization experience, as well as its leadership in the well construction and drilling industry. Sage are pioneers in addressing the challenges of geothermal energy with an integrated system approach covering both surface (plant) and subsurface (well) to deliver a higher heat harvesting efficiency at a lower capital cost. All partners have an unrelenting attitude and approach towards the goal of accelerating the development and achieving the commercialization of clean, baseload geothermal energy on a global scale.

Lev Ring, CEO of Sage noted: “Geothermal energy can be developed into an unlimited source of clean and renewable energy, which is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, but also requires a relatively low amount of resource mining for its effective utilization.  We believe the combination of Sage and Nabors will propel geothermal energy to the front of the transition to rapidly commercialize clean energy sources, economically and responsibly.”

Anthony G. Petrello, Nabors’ Chairman, CEO and President, commented: “We are very excited to participate in the evolution of geothermal energy along with Sage. We believe Sage’s novel approach to harnessing geothermal energy has significant potential to be disruptive to energy markets worldwide.”

Sage has focused intensely on early commercialization, and as such, is currently prioritizing access to onshore geo-pressured formations in the Gulf of Mexico region to prove the commercial viability of Sage’s differentiated technologies and its novel approach to the harvesting of geothermal energy.

Source: Company release