World's hottest borehole nearly complete

December 14, 2016 BBC | Iceland | renewables: geothermal

Geologists are drilling into a volcano to make the world's hottest borehole 5 km down, where temperatures exceed 500 °C. Iceland's newest geothermal plant will bring supercrticial steam to the surface in the Iceland Deep Drilling Project. 10 times more steam power will be generated than in conventional geothermal wells only 2-3 km down.

Voyage of the dammed

February 13, 2019 The Technoskeptic | Global | renewables: hydro

Since the 1930s, as many as 60% of the world's major rivers have been dammed or diverted to generate electrical power. But along with the electricity from the thousands of dams comes unnatural river fluctuations, changing temperatures, loss of fish habitat, reduced sediment nutrients, and dead rivers. (Part 1/2, 4,500 words)

$10M first-of-its-kind geothermal pilot project underway in Alberta

August 22, 2019 CBC | Alberta | renewables: geothermal

A 2.5-km loop connected between well sites under the earth's surface collects heat in a proprietary fluid to generate electrical power. The commercial system uses traditional "closed-loop" geothermal technology, but is on a much larger scale than standard home systems and is incorporated near exisiting drilling sites.

The dam that could start a war between Egypt and Ethiopia

July 15, 2020 The Daily Mail | Ethiopia | renewables: hydro

Africa’s largest hydroelectric plant, the £3-billion GERD, is causing downstream issues as filling begins on the Blue Nile. Ethiopia's neighbour, Egypt, relies on the Nile for 90% of its fresh water that may be restricted by the dam. 65% of Ethiopia is not connected to the grid. A new agreement seeks to ensure a minimum amount of water.

The rebirth of a historic river

November 10, 2020 BBC Future | United States | renewables: hydro

The largest American dam removal project will begin on the Klamath River, home to 8 dams built from the 1900s to 1962. Starving river sediment below and aiding algae growth behind the dams, the once 3rd-largest salmon run in the lower 48 was only 700 Chinook in 2019. The lower 4 dams will be removed (125-m height), returning 400 miles at $450 million.

Geothermal heating co-op shares warmth among Montreal neighbours

January 20, 2022 CBC | Montreal | renewables: geothermal

A neighbourhood Montreal co-op began heating 7 homes retrofitted with geothermal heat pumps (aka ground source heat pumps or geoexchange systems). To reduce costs and comply with laws, 8 150-m-deep geothermal wells were dug in a private backyard rather than a public alleyway, and are shared. The goal is to connect 50 homes. AC is also avaialble.

U.S. DOE announces $20 million to lower costs of geothermal drilling

February 5, 2022 CleanTechnica | United States | renewables: geothermal

The Department of Energy announced $20 million funding to develop faster geothermal drilling technologies (increased penetration rate), often more than half the project cost. The goal is to help fossil-fuel companies to convert existing energy infrastructure. Drilling and well service companies, operators, developers, and researchers can apply.

Hydropower eyes bigger energy role, less environmental harm

March 19, 2022 AP News | United States | renewables: hydro

Hydro is the #2 U.S. renewable energy source after wind power at 7% of electrical power. Most dams were built over 50 years ago, while only 20% of 90,000 produce power. As more dams are repurposed to power up to 12 million homes, certification is available to protect endangered species, river use, and fish passage.

America’s first ‘enhanced’ geothermal plant just got up and running

November 28, 2023 Canary Media | Nevada | renewables: geothermal

Fervo Energy built a 3.5-MW EGS for a Google data centre in Nevada. The steam-generating, super-hot rock (376 F), setup taps deeper (>1 mile) heat than a hot spring or geyser via horizontal drilling (~1/2 mile) and fiber-optics. Geothermal is under 4 GW in the US (0.4%), but could provide 90 GW of grid power by 2050. Google aims to be carbon-free by 2030.