Quaise

Quaise, Inc was founded in 2018 to develop a millimeter-wave drilling system for converting existing power stations to use superdeep geothermal energy.^[1] The system would repurpose existing gyrotron technology to drill 20 kilometers beneath the surface, where temperatures exceed 400 °C. No fracking would be required, avoiding the potential for earthquakes that have occurred in other geothermal systems.^[2][3] Drilling using this technique is hoped to be fast, with boreholes aimed to be completed in 100 days^[4] using existing 1MW gyrotrons.

Quaise, Inc

Industry	Geothermal Power
Founded	2018
Founder	Carlos Araque, Matt Houde, Aaron Mandell
Headquarters	Cambridge, Massachusetts , United States
Key people	Carlos Araque Chief Executive Officer
Products	Millimeter-wave drilling
Number of employees	20+
Website	quaise.energy

Overview

Existing geothermal power stations can only be deployed in rare locations where adequate heat is located within 3 km of the surface.^[5] These resources are of a comparatively low temperature, and require seismically risky stimulation techniques. Further, drilling at these depths is expensive and slow.^{[citation needed]}

Instead, Quaise plans to drill quickly to deep depths using a gyrotron and waveguide, vaporizing the rock by heating it.^[6] Temperatures at 20 km depth are above the supercritical point of water, which allows ten times more energy to be transferred given the same volumetric flow.^[7] The supercritical water is then used in a supercritical steam generator which may previously have been powered with fossil fuels.^{[citation needed]}

Comparison with other power sources

The approach proposes advantages compared with other power sources:

• Constant 24-hour generation – Maximum output always available. Does not require storage. Wind and Solar are intermittent generators.^{[citation needed]}
• Small land footprint – Consumes less than 1% of the land area of wind or solar for the same maximum output.^[8]

Status

In October 2021, Quaise began initial testing of gyrotron boring at Oak Ridge National Laboratory^[9] and plans to have a full-scale gyrotron drilling rig completed by 2024.^[10] By 2026, the company hopes to have achieved 100MW of geothermal power output.^[11] By 2028, Quaise aims to have converted an existing fossil-fueled power plant to run on geothermal steam.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Supercritical steam generator