Quaise Energy achieves 100 meters of drilling using millimeter wave technology
Quaise Energy has achieved a major milestone of drilling 100 meters using their millimeter wave drilling technology being developed for superhot geothermal.
Quaise Energy has announced that it has successfully drilled to a depth of 100 meters, a milestone for the company’s proprietary millimeter wave drilling technology that is being developed to unlock deeper and hotter geothermal resources. The test drilling was done at a field site in Central Texas.
Prior to 2025, millimeter wave drilling had only been demonstrated in the laboratory, with MIT’s early system drilling a hole just a few centimeters deep. While 100 meters is only a fraction of the commercial depth needed for the company’s first power plants, the granite drilled during the field test is the same type of hard rock that blankets the basement layer of the Earth’s crust. The company plans to build on this achievement with an upcoming gyrotron using 10x more power, with a target to complete a pilot power plant in the Western U.S. as early as 2028.
“Our progress this year has exceeded all expectations,” said Carlos Araque, CEO and President of Quaise Energy. “We’re drilling faster and deeper at this point than anyone believed possible, proving that millimeter wave technology is the only tool capable of reaching the superhot rock needed for next-generation geothermal power. We are opening up a path to a new energy frontier.”
A few months ago, the company held the first demonstration of its drilling technology at a full-scale oil rig owned by Nabors, one of the world’s largest oil-and-gas drilling companies. The company started drilling through ten feet of a granite column but have scaled up significantly since then.
Quaise’s millimeter wave drilling system, developed after more than a decade of research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), harnesses a powerful gyrotron to ablate rock for the first time without any downhole hardware. Unlike conventional drill bits, which struggle with hard, hot, rocks like granite and basalt, millimeter wave technology allows access to superhot rock—around 752 degrees Fahrenheit (400?)—typically found deep within the Earth’s subsurface.
Source: Quaise Energy
