Petroleum drilling technology is now making carbon-free geothermal power.

https://www.npr.org/2024/10/15/nx-s1-5035523/petroleum-drilling-technology-carbon-free-power

3 Comments

  1. > But this $2 billion geothermal project

    > will produce 100 megawatts of electricity. Around-the-clock, 24/7 electricity,” he said.

    I’d be curious what the maintenance costs would be. $200/MW is ruinously expensive, but of course that capital outlay would be amortized over its usable lifetime. Picking some numbers at random, say ongoing costs equivalent to 10% of construction per annum, spread over 20 years, would equate to $30/MW, which puts it on par with the low end for wind and solar (already the cheapest sources), but without the variable output and need for grid storage those entail.