In this edition, we’ll explain why zero-emissions geothermal power, as well as clean hydrogen, may be gathering momentum. But first, let’s get caught up: Worst-case scenario revised down: Largely because of the growth in renewable energy, a committee of climate experts from around the world has revised down its projection of a possible worst-case scenario for global warming. It’s a small bit of good news, but that didn’t stop President Trump from weighing in on social media and arguing that Democrats have used climate activism to scare Americans and fund “their bogus research programs.” The bad news: Even after the revisions, the planet is still dangerously heating up, increasingly the likelihood of disastrous effects. Read more. E.P.A. to end some limits on ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water: The agency announced on Monday that it would drop some limits on “forever chemicals” in drinking water that officials had determined can cause cancer and other serious health problems. That move angered some activists who had supported President Trump’s campaign. Read more.
The case for geothermal power
For more than a year, President Trump and his allies have attacked wind and solar power while promoting fossil fuels. Yet there is one type of clean energy that has escaped their wrath: geothermal. Last week, Fervo, a geothermal company based in Houston, made its stock market debut, raising $1.89 billion in its initial public offering. It was the biggest clean tech I.P.O. of all time, giving Fervo a valuation of more than $10 billion. Using techniques borrowed from the oil and gas industry, companies like Fervo drill into the Earth, tapping into natural heat that, when mixed with water, creates steam and powers turbines that make emissions-free electricity. The appeal of geothermal is clear. America is in an energy crunch. Electricity demand is soaring thanks to data centers, industrial activity and electric vehicles. New wind and solar projects are being slowed or canceled, and there is a major backlog of natural gas turbines. And while the Trump administration has taken to extending the life of some coal plants, there’s still an enormous gap between energy supply and demand. The theoretical impact is huge. There is roughly 3,800 megawatts of conventional geothermal capacity in the United States. The International Energy Agency now estimates that geothermal could provide 15 percent of the world’s energy needs by 2050 with sufficient investment. Wood Mackenzie, an energy research firm, asked whether the industry could be “the next North American gold rush.” What’s more, because geothermal can provide what the energy industry calls “always-on base load power,” it is a welcome compliment to intermittent sources of power such as solar and wind. “The potential is very large, and we need new kinds of supply that can balance an increasingly solar-heavy grid,” said. John Coequyt, a director at RMI, an energy consultancy. “It looks like geothermal is sort of the perfect match for that.” A growing marketFervo’s valuation reflects investor enthusiasm for what could be a big new sector of the energy industry. For years, geothermal companies struggled to gain traction and raise money. But that has changed recently, as venture capital firms and corporations have spent billions backing a new generation of start-ups trying to tap into the Earth’s subterranean heat. Other companies, including XGS Energy and Quaise Energy, are also trying to break into the market. “There was such deep skepticism from investors that it was hard not only for Fervo but the entire geothermal ecosystem to actually capitalize the business,” the Fervo chief executive, Tim Latimer, who previously worked in the oil and gas industry, told Ivan Penn and Brad Plumer last week. “I think people are waking up to this opportunity and seeing that we’re going to need all kinds of new technologies to close the gap of how much power we need.”
Plus there’s the political support. Even as the Trump administration has moved to cancel offshore wind projects and slow solar development, the Department of Energy recently announced $171 million for geothermal field tests. “The obvious difference here is the connection to the oil and gas industry,” Coequyt said. Another factor is that geothermal can produce sustained power, and adjust its output to meet demand, which addresses a main critique about technologies like wind and solar. “The ability of geothermal to be both base load and load following is consistent with how Republicans have talked about the challenges of renewable energy,” Coequyt said. Long way to goGeothermal won’t satisfy America’s huge appetite for energy anytime soon. Analysts say that even with government support, it will be many years before geothermal power is providing a meaningful portion of the country’s power. In order for that to happen, Fervo and other geothermal companies will have to overcome several substantial hurdles. First is the matter of bringing operational plants online. Fervo’s first commercial plant, in Utah, expects to start sending electricity to the grid this year. Even if other plants get built, they will have to face the same challenges other energy producers do when trying to plug in to an antiquated grid that is badly in need of new investment. Then, there is the price. Right now, geothermal is more expensive than other energy sources, including natural gas and solar. Big companies, including Google, have agreed to pay a premium for some power in a bid to support the nascent industry. In order for geothermal to scale, analysts say, it will have to be cost-competitive with other power sources.
RENEWABLE ENERGY Clean hydrogen’s ‘massive’ potential could be undergroundOutside the city of Thetford Mines, Quebec, in a region that once supplied the world with asbestos, workers are drilling in search of an unusual and potentially vast new source of clean energy. A start-up called Vema Hydrogen has drilled two test wells into the bedrock, each 1,000 feet deep, and is starting to inject treated water into the iron-rich rocks below. The goal is to trigger a chemical reaction that could eventually produce large quantities of hydrogen, a clean-burning fuel that may one day play a vital role in tackling climate change. “The potential is massive,” said Pierre Levin, the chief executive of Vema, as he watched a drilling crew at work on a bright, bitterly cold spring day. It’s one of dozens of start-ups trying to find large reservoirs of natural hydrogen thought to exist below the surface. — Brad Plumer NUMBERS OF THE DAY $130 and $35Under a bipartisan bill introduced this week in Congress, owners of electric vehicles would have to pay a $130 annual fee and plug-in hybrid owners would have to pay $35. The money would go to cover their share of the cost to repair roads, which could further depress sales of those models. IN THEIR OWN WORDS
“This was supposed to be a model. It’s not worth it. I wouldn’t recommend it to anybody.”That’s Amy Handon, 47, a former resident of Isle de Jean Charles, in a Louisiana bayou, who belongs to one of 37 families relocated to higher ground in the first large-scale federal experiment in climate-driven migration. But the experiment has become a cautionary tale, he writes. Many local of the families relocated “are angry over shoddy construction or that residents had little say in how the money was spent,” among other issues. More climate news from around the web:
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