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Cape Station, future home of an enhanced geothermal power plant, in Utah

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177 points mooreds | 1 comments | 06 Sep 25 20:26 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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filenox ◴[06 Sep 25 21:08 UTC] No.45152845[source]▶
Most wells at Cape Station are between 8,000 and 9,000 feet deep, and the deepest one extends a mind-blowing 15,000 feet below the surface. That is about the depth you'd get to if you stacked 50 Statues of Liberty on top of each other!

For those who prefer a less American-centric metric: 8,000–9,000 feet is approximately 2.5 kilometers. 15,000 feet is about 4.5 kilometers — roughly the height of 14 Eiffel Towers stacked on top of each other!

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Animats ◴[06 Sep 25 21:17 UTC] No.45152918[source]▶
> 8,000–9,000 feet is approximately 2.5 kilometers.

The usual value for the geothermal gradient is 25 to 30 degrees C per kilometer. So at 2.5km, in most locations they might be able to get boiling water, but not superheated steam. Most of the geothermal enthusiasts are talking about needing to go down 4 to 12 kilometers. Is there something special about the geology at this site?

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1. metalman ◴[06 Sep 25 21:29 UTC] No.45153033[source]▶
likely it is hot, porous rock that is capped in such a way that injected water will heat to the super critical point for water , or water exists as a super critical fluid there already