Google now powering data centers with geothermal energy harvested using oil drilling techniques

Geothermal power generation — (Image credit: Google)

Google has a new way to power its data centers. According to a blog post from Google, a "first-of-its-kind" geothermal project in Arizona that uses modern oil and gas industry drilling techniques to optimize geothermal power generation is operational, as of today. Google says this "enhanced geothermal energy" is capable of producing round-the-clock clean energy cheaper than any other currently available method.

Power is a big expense for most tech companies, and is an increasingly precious resource in general. So it tracks that companies are pursuing ambitious clean energy and renewable energy targets. Until now, geothermal energy production has been geographically limited because it relied on the Earth's heat sources being concentrated and very near the surface. But Google has been working closely for the last two years with a company called Fervo, and the pair have managed to set up a power plant that will fulfill data centers with clean energy 24/7.

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In the case of this successful Nevada project, Fervo drilled pilot wells 8,000 feet deep before turning to horizontal drilling techniques. It then ran fiber optic cables down the wells to gather and analyze data concerning the flow and temperature profile of the local geothermal resource. It implemented a well design to maximize the use of the best heat resources identified and to optimize the flow of the heat reservoir system for heat mining efficiency. You can read more about Fervo and its technologies on its website, or watch the following video:

The US Department of Energy predicts that geothermal energy could provide up to 120 gigawatts of reliable generation capacity in the US by 2050. This means it could account for 16% of the nation’s energy demands by that time. Perhaps with the Google and Fervo Arizona project success, those figures might be worth revising. If it isn’t already clear, these ‘24/7’ geothermal power plants have an inherent advantage over renewable like wind, sea, solar, and hydroelectric energy, which aren’t as dependable or consistent.

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Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.

32 Comments Comment from the forums

bit_user

Good. Now start building data centers around dormant supervolcanos, so we can defuse these lurking monsters by sapping away their heat.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20170817-nasas-ambitious-plan-to-save-earth-from-a-supervolcano
The eruption of a large supervolcano would have climatic effects on par with an asteroid impact, possibly ushering in a mini ice age. Food production would be severely affected, triggering years of mass starvation. They're an existential threat to modern civilization.
https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-a-supervolcano-what-a-supereruption
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supervolcano
amirite, @Kamen Rider Blade ?
Reply
USAFRet

bit_user said:
Good. Now start building data centers around dormant supervolcanos, so we can defuse these lurking monsters by sapping away their heat.
Mosquito on an elephant.
Reply
bit_user

USAFRet said:
Mosquito on an elephant.
I've read you can drain enough heat, over like 100 years, to probably defuse one. Not with a single tap, but probably a dozen or so.

The key is that you don't need to drain all of its heat, but just enough that it stops weakening the crust.

It's a win-win: nearly free, limitless power and meaningful reduction of a civilization-level risk.
Reply
USAFRet

bit_user said:
I've read you can drain enough heat, over like 100 years, to probably defuse one. Not with a single tap, but probably a dozen or so.

The key is that you don't need to drain all of its heat, but just enough that it stops weakening the crust.

It's a win-win: nearly free, limitless power and meaningful reduction of a civilization-level risk.
I didn't see anything in there about "100 years".
Reply
bit_user

USAFRet said:
I didn't see anything in there about "100 years".
Yeah, it was a different article. I'll post if I can find it.
Reply
Kamen Rider Blade

bit_user said:
Good. Now start building data centers around dormant supervolcanos, so we can defuse these lurking monsters by sapping away their heat.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20170817-nasas-ambitious-plan-to-save-earth-from-a-supervolcano
The eruption of a large supervolcano would have climatic effects on par with an asteroid impact, possibly ushering in a mini ice age. Food production would be severely affected, triggering years of mass starvation. They're an existential threat to modern civilization.
https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-a-supervolcano-what-a-supereruptionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supervolcano
amirite, @Kamen Rider Blade ?
The threat is true, but good luck getting Data Centers to willingly move there.

How do you know how many GeoThermal plants are necessary to drain the heat at a region to maintain stability of the crust over time? How do you even validate such claims?

And who's going to pay for this?
Reply
USAFRet

bit_user said:
Now start building data centers around dormant supervolcanos, so we can defuse these lurking monsters by sapping away their heat.
Also, where is that "heat" going?

Consider the Earth as a closed ecosystem. Planet and atmosphere.

Sapping the heat from a volcano goes....where?
Reply
bit_user

USAFRet said:
Also, where is that "heat" going?
The only place it can - up. At least, if there are no large bodies of water nearby...
https://www.tomshardware.com/desktops/servers/china-has-started-building-an-underwater-data-center-performance-is-equivalent-to-6-million-pcs-and-aims-to-save-nearly-ten-soccer-fields-of-land-and-122-million-kwh-of-electricity

USAFRet said:
Consider the Earth as a closed ecosystem. Planet and atmosphere.
Energy-wise, it's not. Energy enters from the sun, which is why the temperature usually rises during the daytime. Energy is then radiated out into space (at least, the portion which isn't trapped by the greenhouse effect), enabling temperatures to drop at night.

USAFRet said:
Sapping the heat from a volcano goes....where?
If the volcano erupted, that heat would come out with the magma. I don't really see the problem.
Reply
bit_user

Kamen Rider Blade said:
How do you know how many GeoThermal plants are necessary to drain the heat at a region to maintain stability of the crust over time? How do you even validate such claims?
Well, you can estimate the size of the magma plumes using seismographic techniques and via changes in gravity.

I assume we have a pretty good idea how hot the magma is and at what temperature the crust weakens. That should establish a target for the amount of energy that needs to be extracted.

Kamen Rider Blade said:
And who's going to pay for this?
As the BBC article I linked says, it'll pay for itself in cheap energy-generation, over time. It requires some up-front investment, but so did Google's geothermal power system described in the Toms article.
Reply
USAFRet

bit_user said:
The only place it can - up. At least, if there are no large bodies of water nearby...
https://www.tomshardware.com/desktops/servers/china-has-started-building-an-underwater-data-center-performance-is-equivalent-to-6-million-pcs-and-aims-to-save-nearly-ten-soccer-fields-of-land-and-122-million-kwh-of-electricity

Energy-wise, it's not. Energy enters from the sun, which is why the temperature usually rises during the daytime. Energy is then radiated out into space (at least, the portion which isn't trapped by the greenhouse effect), enabling temperatures to drop at night.

If the volcano erupted, that heat would come out with the magma. I don't really see the problem.
To significantly impact the heat in this volcano, we'd be pumping significant extra heat into the atmosphere.

Unintended consequences rear their ugly heads.

It is going to blow? Absolutely. Eventually.
With really really bad consequences for us out here.

But us puny humans manually siphoning that off over the next "100 years" may or may not be a good idea. It is not a slam dunk good.
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