Imagine a giant underground radiator that doesn't need a natural hot spring to work. Instead of searching for rare water-filled rocks, this system drills a long horizontal pipe into the earth to soak up heat. It can even use special fluids like CO2 to move heat more efficiently than water.
Conventional geothermal energy requires rare, permeable hot aquifers, making projects high-risk and expensive. This limits geothermal use to specific geographic 'hotspots'.
A Drill Heat String (DHS) and a horizontal closed-loop system. This includes validated heat flow models and a full-scale tested hardware string.
If you are a municipal energy provider dealing with the high risk of dry wells in non-volcanic regions — this project developed a horizontal closed loop that extracts heat from any rock formation. This allows you to provide stable heating without needing a natural aquifer.
If you are a heavy industry plant dealing with high carbon emissions from process heating — this project developed a direct integration technology for industrial processes. This allows you to swap fossil fuels for geothermal heat regardless of your local geology.
If you are an IPP dealing with the instability of wind and solar grids — this project developed a closed-loop system that provides constant power output. This improves grid stability by adding a reliable base-load energy source.
The project aims to reduce the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) compared to conventional geothermal solutions to meet SET plan targets.
The project has reached TRL5, having completed a full-scale test of the drill heat string (DHS) at the Ullrigg test centre.
Based on available project data, specific licensing terms are not listed, but the project involves 11 partners including 2 SMEs and 4 research centers.
The solution is designed to be integrated with other renewables to improve the reliability of the power supply and grid stability.
The project period runs from 2022-10-01 to 2026-09-30, with full-scale testing already performed between October 2024 and January 2025.
The consortium is research-heavy with 9 university and research partners, but maintains a practical edge with 2 industrial SMEs. With 11 partners across 7 countries, the project leverages a broad European base for geological site investigation and technical validation, though the industry ratio is relatively low at 18%.
Contact INSTITUTT FOR ENERGITEKNIKK STI in Norway
Request technical specs on the Drill Heat String (DHS) performance.
