Geothermal energy is one of the cleanest and most sustainable sources of energy available. Harnessing the Earth’s internal heat allows us to generate virtually unlimited amounts of energy on our time scale. All without using a single gram of fossil fuel, without the intermittency problems associated with solar and wind power, and without the geopolitical issues relating to nuclear power. A combination of qualities that is particularly interesting in the current context.
Unfortunately, it suffers from certain sometimes prohibitive limits, particularly in terms of accessibility. Not all homes have a geothermal reservoir that can be exploited, and even when they do, this often involves carrying out quite expensive work. But this is not necessarily inevitable, if we are to believe the Swiss startup Borobotics. In an interview with TheNextWebshe presented a new autonomous drilling system that could make geothermal energy easier for the public to access while making it less expensive.
An accessible and versatile autonomous drill
The star of this project is a sort of robotic worm 2.8 meters long and 13.5 centimeters in diameter. It has a drill head that allows it to quickly and discreetly dig into a small space, such as a garden, to create a private geothermal well with little effort and at a lower cost.
It is obviously slower than the huge drills used by professionals on large construction sites, and is limited to a maximum depth of around 500 meters. But according to the co-founder of Borobotics Mortiz Pill, it is more than enough for the vast majority of average users.
« In many European countries, at a depth of 250 meters, the average temperature is 14°C. This is ideal for efficient heating in winter, whilst being cool enough to cool the building in summer », he explains in his interview with TheNextWeb.
In addition, this machine is equipped with a host of additional features to facilitate the implementation of such a system. For starters, it’s completely self-contained; its drilling head is equipped with several sensors capable of detecting the nature of the material to be drilled, or even obstacles such as a pocket of gas or water. If necessary, it is capable of sealing them directly, without human intervention. Finally, as it descends below the surface, the drill automatically deploys a support pipe to ensure the stability of the hole in soft ground.
Once the robot has finished its work, all that remains is to install the rest of the necessary piping in the cavities, then connect them to a heat pump type exchanger to benefit from a source of energy economical, reliable and environmentally friendly.
Towards a democratization of geothermal energy?
According to Underground Ventures, a Danish investment fund entirely dedicated to startups in the field of geothermal energy, this concept could contribute to a massive democratization of geothermal energy – with all that this implies in terms of carbon impact. “ The potential for geothermal heat pumps to decarbonize Europe is considerable, provided the cost falls. As soon as this happens, the market will be wide open “, Torsten Kolind, deputy director of Underground Ventures, told TNW.
It will therefore be appropriate to closely monitor the progress of Borobotics. Of course, his machine is still only at the prototype stage; but once mature, it could well give ideas to the rest of the industry, and by extension, become the instigator of a great paradigm shift that would benefit everyone.
According to Kolind, it’s only a matter of time before European regulators and investors line up en masse behind geothermal energy; see you in a few years to see if the evolution of the market will have proved him right, and if Borobotics will take advantage of it to become the European SpaceX of geothermal energy.
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