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

(www.gatesnotes.com)
177 points mooreds | 3 comments | 06 Sep 25 20:26 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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giggyhack ◴[06 Sep 25 21:16 UTC] No.45152912[source]▶
I have been following this company and several others (Quaise, Fervo, Sage) in the EGS Space for a little bit now, and I think we are on the cusp of a huge breakthrough in baseload renewable energy. This site in Utah is one of the largest test cases that expands the use of EGS to a much broader area than just a few geothermal hot spots. Prices are dropping dramatically, and these things are moving quickly beyond the R&D phase. There is a world where every major data center across the Western US has its own base load power supply that has essentially no pollution, no footprint, no hazardous waste, and no need for complicated permitting. EGS truly could be a game changer in the world's push to decarbonize. I'm super excited.
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1. amarcheschi ◴[06 Sep 25 21:59 UTC] No.45153260[source]▶
At least in Tuscany - where there is a cluster of geothermal power plants creating 1/3 of the region electricity (it should reach 40% in a few years) - they had to invent special filters to lower the emission of mercury and hydrogen sulfide https://www.enelgreenpower.com/stories/articles/2024/10/geot...

I don't know if it's "no footprint" at all. For what I know, which is not much, but just what a person living here might know, there's a footprint that can be somehow managed. But I'm not an engineer

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2. sarchertech ◴[07 Sep 25 00:02 UTC] No.45154009[source]▶
The plants mentioned in the article are closed systems. They aren’t releasing steam into the atmosphere like the plants you’re referencing.
3. lostlogin ◴[07 Sep 25 01:46 UTC] No.45154624[source]▶
I wish New Zealand did more of this.

We have a whole fleet of geothermal plants (15ish), making about 20% of our power. However the largest plant is only 160MW.

The impact in comparison to our other renewables seems fairly minimal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_power_in_New_Zealan...