Startup tests giant battery packs underground – with Google support
Normally, geothermal power plants like those of Fervo Energy work with water that is channeled underground through hot rock. Back at the surface, the heated water is then used to turn liquids into steam. This in turn drives a turbine, which generates electricity.
In the Nevada desert, the Texan startup Fervo Energy is currently testing how a geothermal power plant could also be used as a huge underground electricity storage facility – with success.
If the geothermal startup manages to scale the tested process to an economic scale, electricity generation based on renewable energies could become simpler and cheaper in the MIT Technology Review.
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In the experiment, Fervo Energy poured water into U-shaped wells that reached up to 2.4 kilometers into the ground. The water, which was under high pressure, heated up to almost 200 degrees.
Measurements showed that the pressure built up so quickly that cracks developed in the surrounding rock, like these Futurezone writes. Fervo Energy then continued pumping water into the closed well system for days.
This expanded like a balloon due to the increasing pressure. The pressure released when the valve was opened. The hot water could then be pumped up for hours at an above-average level.
For Fervo Energy, this is proof that power generation can be throttled or increased as needed. In extreme cases, electricity can be generated for days, so the power plant can function like a huge underground battery.
This could stabilize the power supply in the future if renewable energies such as wind power plants or solar systems temporarily do not supply enough electricity. Fervo Energy relies on AI-based control systems from Google so that the system can react independently to increasing or decreasing energy requirements.
The geothermal startup has brought important partners on board since it was founded in 2017. Nearly $180 million in venture capital has been raised to date from a variety of investors including Bill Gates’ investment firm Breakthrough Energy Ventures, DCVC and Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund.
In the future, Fervo Energy will supply Google with enough green energy so that the search engine group can operate its data centers in Nevada CO2-neutrally by 2030. Among other things, the construction of a five-megawatt system is planned for this purpose.
