Texan university, Southern Methodist University (SMU), has confirmed that the US state has the potential to access geothermal energy. Texas is the oil capital of the US with many top companies basing their operations in the state, and SMU said that the oil and gas industry is ripe to grab onto the newly discovered geothermal potential.
In its assessment for the Texas State Energy Conservation Office, SMU notes that many of the “same technologies that oil and gas companies pioneers for retrieving natural gas from shale can be utilized to create steam from the hot ‘dry’ rocks found underneath that shale.”
The University’s release stated that the prime geothermal locations were found near populated Texan cities, which would allow for easy, cheaper integration into the main grid.
And while it is true that much of the same drilling equipment is used for both the hydrocarbon and geothermal sectors, there are still additional costs as drilling for hydrocarbons requires a different method in order to test a well. If a well drilled for oil and gas comes up dry, testing for geothermal is a completely different process and would require a complete redo on the drilling operations. As hydrocarbons continue to render big bucks for these companies and the only cost saved is by using the same equipment for drilling, it is unlikely that large oil and gas firms (although there is potential for smaller companies) are going to begin drilling for the so-called geothermal potential in Texas.
SMU should continue to urge the hydrocarbon sector but also garner more attention from companies specialized in geothermal production like Ormat Technologies, Calpine, US Geothermal, Raser Technologies, and AltaRock Energy. In 2009, the US announced that it would put $350 million in the funding of geothermal energy which could be another deciding factor to put a rush on exploring Texas to find out its real potential in extracting geothermal energy.
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