WASHINGTON, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- Google Inc announced on Tuesday that it will invest more than 10 million U.S. dollars in Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) technology, as part of its Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal initiative.
Through its philanthropic arm, Google.org, the internet giant will invest in two geothermal technology start-up companies and give a university grant to study the potential of EGS.
The traditional geothermal approach relies on finding naturally occurring pockets of steam or hot water. The EGS process, by comparison, replicates these conditions by fracturing hot rock, circulating water through the system, and using the resulting steam to produce electricity in a conventional turbine.
"EGS expands the potential of traditional geothermal energy by orders of magnitude," said Google.org. EGS has the potential to provide clean renewable electricity 24/7, at a cost cheaper than coal.
As part of this investment, 6.25 million U.S. dollars will go to Alta Rock Energy Inc to develop innovative technologies to achieve significant cost reductions and improved performance in EGS projects. Four million U.S. dollars will go to Potter Drilling to develop new approaches to lower the cost and expand the range of deep hard rock drilling, a critical element to large-scale deployment of EGS
Southern Methodist University's geothermal Lab will receive a grant of 489,521 U.S. dollars to improve understanding of the sizeand distribution of geothermal energy resources and to update geothermal mapping of North America.
EGS is heating up around the world. Australia, Germany, and the European Union are currently leading the technology and commercialization race. In the United States, all the 50 states have substantial thermal resources accessible by EGS, said Google.org.
