Supercritical geothermal – the power below our feet
The Government has ring-fenced up to $60 million from the Regional Infrastructure Fund to invest in exploring the potential of supercritical geothermal technology, which could help secure New Zealand’s future energy needs.
Rotokawa Geothermal Station
Supercritical geothermal energy is sourced from water heated by magma deep under the Earth’s crust. At such high temperatures (over 400°C or 750°F and 220 bars of pressure), water enters a ‘supercritical’ state, neither liquid nor gas. In this state, it holds up to 3 times more energy than conventional geothermal fluids. If the technology to access and distribute this resource can be developed, it could become the world’s most powerful new clean, green, renewable energy source.
Government funding is kickstarting a project to drill an exploratory well at the Rotokawa geothermal field near Taupō. The project to develop and prove the engineering systems for extracting supercritical geothermal is hugely challenging and globally ground-breaking.
The Taupō Volcanic Zone in the central North Island is believed to be an excellent site to drill for supercritical geothermal fluids as large sources of geothermal heat exist there at shallower depths than almost every other place in the world.
The Rotokawa geothermal field has been selected as the first well site because it benefits from decades of operational data, advanced geophysical imaging, and robust infrastructure, making it the ideal launchpad for supercritical exploration.
A Memorandum of Understanding to explore the potential of supercritical geothermal energy at the site has been signed between the landowners Tauhara North No.2 Trust, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, and Mercury NZ which operates the Rotokawa geothermal power station.
The project is being run by a top-tier New Zealand team of technical experts who will design the well, the equipment needs, and the steps to get us to the extreme depths for accessing supercritical geothermal fluids. Earth Sciences NZ is contributing technical and scientific expertise, which was funded by MBIE’s Endeavour Research Fund and years of other studies at the Taupō Volcanic Zone. Read more about:
Earth Sciences NZ’s supercritical geothermal research and expertise – Geothermal The Next Generation
While this project is exploratory and innovative, we’re not starting from scratch. New Zealand is part of a global supercritical geothermal movement with Iceland, Japan, Italy, and the United States, and the project is being assisted by an International Peer Review Panel of global experts.
The project will be carefully managed in stages so the team can assess whether the engineering technology to harness the energy can be developed before the rest of the funds are released.