Posted in climate, drilling, energy, tagged gyrotron, millimeter wave drilling, Quaise Energy, Star Wars, supercritical water, superhot geothermal on February 13, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Superhot geothermal is exciting because of the unlimited potential, universal availability, Star Wars drilling technology, and the dynamics of supercritical fluids.
There are still hurdles to clear, and commercial power generation is 5+ years away, but the promise is tantalizing.
Posted in drilling, tagged drilling record, gyrotron, millimeter wave drilling, Quaise Energy, Star Wars, ultradeep geothermal on July 28, 2025| Leave a Comment »
HOUSTON (7/22/2025) – “Quaise Energy, a leading developer of grid-scale superhot geothermal energy, today announced it has successfully drilled to a depth of 100 meters using its proprietary millimeter wave technology at its field site in Central Texas. This achievement sets a record for millimeter wave drilling and marks a major step forward in unlocking the Earth’s vast geothermal energy as a scalable, baseload energy source.“
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Posted in drilling, energy, tagged gyrotron, hybrid drilling rig, millimeter wave drilling, Nabors Drilling, Quaise Energy, superhot geothermal, ultradeep geothermal on June 3, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Recently, Quaise Energy showcased millimeter wave drilling on a full-scale Nabors rig, and moved one step closer to superhot geothermal power production.
This is the first-ever hybrid drilling rig, combining conventional and millimeter wave capabilities.
Quaise plans to drill superhot geothermal wells that can generate abundant baseload power in record time. They believe there is no other energy solution capable of the same scale and speed.
Posted in drilling, energy, tagged gyrotron, melt rock, millimeter wave drilling, Quaise Energy, test drilling on March 1, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“Last month, we demonstrated millimeter wave drilling outside of the lab for the very first time.“
“Millimeter wave drilling is the keystone of superhot geothermal. It’s the only way to access the resource at scale while reaching economic and power parity with fossil fuels. Over the coming months, two more drilling field tests will pave the way to our first commercial developments.”
Posted in climate, drilling, energy policy, tagged field tests, gyrotron, Noema Magazine, Quaise Energy, ultradeep geothermal on January 27, 2025| Leave a Comment »
See this very good Noema Magazine article.
“In an age when energy policy is so often hostage to fierce partisanship, there is hope that geothermal can be the one clean energy solution that could satisfy climate change campaigners and the ‘drill baby drill’ lobby alike.”
Updates on Quaise Energy’s highly anticipated gyrotron field test and related information:
Quaise’s Araque: “Our civilization uses 25 terawatts, and it doubles every 25 years. By 2050 we need 50 terawatts. By 2100 we need 200 terawatts. When you look at those numbers, you realize that diffuse and intermittent renewables don’t have the scale. The externalities are too high.”
Posted in climate, drilling, tagged fractures at superhot conditions, gyrotron, Quaise Energy, supercritical water, ultradeep geothermal on October 18, 2024| 4 Comments »
Ultra-deep geothermal is arguably the renewable energy resource with the greatest long term potential. It is accessible everywhere, can replace thermal energy sources at existing power plants, and isn’t handicapped by the intermittency, space preemption, aesthetic, and wildlife protection challenges inherent in wind and solar development.
A new study found that rock that fractures at superhot conditions (see diagram above) can be ten times more permeable than rock that fractures at conditions closer to the Earth’s surface, and can also deform more readily.
Why is this important?
The next big step for ultra-deep geothermal is demonstrating the technology to efficiently drill wells to depths of ~20 km. In that regard, we are awaiting Quaise Energy’s field test of their gyrotron drilling system.
Posted in climate, drilling, energy policy, tagged field test, gyrotron, millimeter wave drilling, Quaise Energy, ultradeep geothermal on August 5, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Ultradeep geothermal has enormous potential for power generation without being handicapped by the intermittency, space preemption, aesthetic, and wildlife protection challenges inherit in wind and solar projects.
Quaise Energy is an exciting company, not only because of ultradeep geothermal’s unlimited energy potential, but also because of their fascinating gyrotron technology that vaporizes hard rock and could enable drilling to depths of 20-30 km and temperatures of >1000° C.
Quaise Energy’s latest update includes some good photos of laboratory tests of their drilling technology. The first field tests of their drilling technology are supposed to be conducted later this year, but no details have been provided.
Quaise describes millimeter waves (MMWs) as follows: “… a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum between microwaves and infrared. Named for their wavelength measuring 1-10 millimeters, MMWs are everywhere yet invisible to the naked eye. The fingerprints of the Big Bang still linger as MMWs all around us in the cosmic microwave background. And if you’re reading this on a phone, chances are it was transmitted by 5G using MMWs.”
The plan is to drill through sedimentary rocks with conventional technology and use MMWs to vaporize basement rock with dielectric heat. There are many hurdles to clear, starting with the field tests, but the enormous energy potential is undeniable.
Posted in climate, drilling, energy, tagged field tests, gyrotron, Nabors Drilling, Quaise Energy, ultradeep geothermal on March 6, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Given the intermittency, space preemption, aesthetic, and wildlife issues associated with wind and solar power, more attention has been shifting to geothermal energy. Quaise’s plan to tap ultradeep heat resources has been on our radar for several years and has been attracting private funding and a bit of media buzz.
Quaise is exciting not only because of the unlimited energy potential, but because of the fascinating gyrotron technology that vaporizes hard rock and could enable wells to be drilled to depths of 20-30 km and temperatures of >1000° C. Nabors, a leading drilling contractor, is one of the Quaise investors, and will be involved with the test drilling.
Demonstrating the gyrotron technology in the field is a big step up from doing so in the lab. Those of us in the “peanut gallery” are awaiting more definitive information on the lab tests that have been conducted to date and the important field tests, which are scheduled for this year.
Posted in drilling, energy, Uncategorized, tagged gyrotron, Oak Ridge Lab, Quaise Energy, ultradeep geothermal on December 12, 2022| Leave a Comment »
The hype for ultradeep geothermal is building, as it should be given the intermittency and energy density issues that limit the potential of other renewable energy options. However, the ability to drill 20 km into the earth’s surface with millimeter, rock-melting waves has yet to be demonstrated.
Conventional drilling technology gets you through sedimentary formations to the hard basement rock that lies below. That is where gyrotrons will be expected to vaporize rock to depths needed to tap into unlimited 900+ deg F geothermal energy. But questions regarding gyrotron reliability, hole stability, and material removal. Quaise Energy is working with DOE’s Oak Ridge lab to resolve these issues. Field tests are expected over the next few years with initial energy production in 2026. This is all very exciting, but even conventional drilling is seldom routine, so complications should be expected.
Here’s a very good video:
Posted in CCS, climate, energy, tagged gyrotron, Quaise Energy, renewable energy, ultradeep geothermal on November 17, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Update on the most promising renewable energy alternative:
Quaise has received a grant from the Department of Energy to scale up Woskov’s experiments using a larger gyrotron. With the larger machine, the team hopes to vaporize a hole 10 times the depth of Woskov’s lab experiments by the end of this year. After that, the team will vaporize a hole 10 times the depth of the previous one — what co-founder Matt Houde calls a 100-to-1 hole.
“That’s something [the DOE] is particularly interested in, because they want to address the challenges posed by material removal over those greater lengths — in other words, can we show we’re fully flushing out the rock vapors?” Houde explains. “We believe the 100-to-1 test also gives us the confidence to go out and mobilize a prototype gyrotron drilling rig in the field for the first field demonstrations.”
Rather than getting deep in the weeds of carbon capture, imagine powering those existing facilities with steam generated without carbon emissions at all.
The key is that ultradeep geothermal has the power density and scalability of fossil fuels.
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 