A further techno-economic study will be required to estimate the resulting cost of geothermal energy per kilowatt-hour (kWh). However, a preliminary estimate can be obtained based on ROP. For example, a geothermal well can be drilled to a depth of 26,000ft in approximately 75 days, at a 10ft/hr average ROP (the approximate rate for conventional geothermal drilling) at an approximate cost of $37.5 million (assuming $500K/day drilling cost). If DeepPower can achieve its potential drilling rate improvement of 600% (60ft/hr), then the same well can be drilled in approximately 12.5 days at an approximate cost of $6 million. This represents a dramatic cost reduction of more than $30 million, not including non-rotating times for well construction operations and any undetermined costs associated with new technology deployment.

Furthermore, conventional geothermal drilling equipment can only reach depths where the temperature is around 150-200C. The holy grail of geothermal energy is 400C, or approximately 10km deep, in a zone known as "Superhot Rock" where 10 times more heat energy can be extracted than from more shallow wells.

DeepPower's patent-pending technology is being developed to go where conventional geothermal drills cannot go, deep into Superhot Rock. Compared to millimetre wave drilling, a Superhot Rock technology being developed by others in the industry, the DeepPower drilling technology is predicted to be faster by more than 300%.

DeepPower's patent-pending technology is being developed to go where conventional geothermal drills cannot go

"This is very exciting news," DeepPower CEO Andrew Van Noy said. "Dr Saeed Salehi and his team have now confirmed that there is a very real business case for their new drilling invention. The next phases of the techno-economic studies will provide us with a more comprehensive model regarding geothermal well cost, production, and other important metrics. These metrics will then drive the development of a lab-scale prototype, which will be optimised to build a pilot-scale drill. We congratulate Dr Salehi and his team for this great progress and we look forward to more good news in the future."

Last year, DeepPower entered into a sponsored research agreement with the University of Oklahoma for a project led by Salehi to develop a breakthrough geothermal drilling technology. DeepPower has an exclusive option to license all resulting technology from this project for commercialisation. 

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