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Geothermal startup Quaise Energy is pushing to build out its first “superhot” power plant this year as more money flows to next-generation geothermal projects.
The Houston-based company says it’s developing a 50-megawatt plant in central Oregon that will tap into significantly hotter geothermal resources than its competitors do, using the firm’s novel rock-melting technology. Quaise broke ground on that site, called Project Obsidian, last year and plans to drill a well this year that will allow it to validate the subsurface conditions, which are expected to reach over 300 degrees Celsius (572 degrees Fahrenheit).
“That’s really in full swing in Oregon,” Harry Kelso, the communications manager for Quaise, told Canary Media.
Quaise is seeking $100 million in Series B financing to support its first commercial plant in Oregon, as Axios first reported last week and Kelso confirmed. The company is looking to secure another $100 million in grants and debt for the project, which it plans to bring online by 2030. It has already signed a power-purchase deal for the initial 50 MW with an undisclosed customer and is working to ink agreements for an additional 200 MW in future capacity, he said.
Eight-year-old Quaise is riding the wave of interest in cutting-edge geothermal technologies.
The United States is clamoring for new sources of electricity, particularly from projects that can produce power around the clock and without carbon emissions. Next-generation geothermal, a broad umbrella that includes a variety of improvements on conventional systems, promises to deliver that — but the sector is still in the early stages of development.
Already this year, investors have closed major funding rounds for startups Sage Geosystems and Zanskar. Fervo Energy, which aims to bring an initial 100-MW enhanced geothermal system online in October, filed for an IPO in January. Just last week, the Department of Energy announced $171.5 million in funding to support field-scale tests of next-gen technologies.
Strong Republican support for the industry also spurred Congress last year to keep tax credits in place for geothermal, even as the Trump administration revoked incentives for wind and solar.
This year “is by far the most exciting time for geothermal in a while, because you have an insatiable need for power,” said Curtis Cook, founder and CEO of Rodatherm Energy Corp., referring to demand from data centers and electrification more broadly. His Salt Lake City–based geothermal startup closed a $38 million Series A funding round last fall to develop its “closed-loop” geothermal pilot plant on federal lands in Utah.
As more startups advance projects this year, potential investors and lenders will gain a better understanding of the capital and operating expenses associated with these emerging technologies. “That’s an inflection point for meaningful growth within the industry,” Cook said.
In Oregon, Quaise’s Project Obsidian will initially use conventional drilling tools to begin building an enhanced geothermal plant near the Newberry Volcano. This approach involves fracturing rocks and pumping them full of water to create artificial reservoirs, which harness Earth’s heat to drive steam turbines on the surface.
Fervo and the government-backed Utah Forge initiative are also developing enhanced systems. But Quaise says it could be the first to operate a commercial plant in superhot rock. These resources are not only dramatically more efficient at generating energy but are also widely available — so long as your equipment can withstand the scorching and corrosive conditions.
To that end, as early as next year, Quaise aims to start deploying its novel millimeter-wave drilling techniques at its power plant. The technology uses high-frequency beams to melt and vaporize rocks, with the goal of accessing hotter resources that are typically found several miles below where traditional drilling equipment can reach.
Quaise has raised a total of $120 million so far from investors to accelerate testing and development, including from Mitsubishi and the oil-and-gas drilling contractor Nabors Industries.
Last year, Quaise said it successfully used its tech to drill to a depth of around 330 feet at a test site near Austin, Texas. Now, it’s gearing up to drill to nearly 3,300 feet later this year. For context, that’s less than half as deep as the vertical wells at Fervo’s first project, a 3.5-MW enhanced geothermal plant in Nevada. But Quaise says it’s working to advance the technology and reach depths of 16,000 feet and far below at the Oregon site.
“We’re bringing those two factors together — superhot geothermal and the drilling technology — so that we can do this just about anywhere” in the world, Kelso said. “That’s the whole ambition, and why this year is so important.”
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