Increased interest in geothermal to push drilling activities

Wells drilled and capex for geothermal power projects (source: Rystad Energy via EnergyGlobal)

An interesting article built upon research by Rystad Energy points to a rather optimistic future for geothermal energy.

The company is projecting a boom in spending for geothermal activity with global well expenditure breaking the USD 1 billion threshold in 2021 going up to $3 billion in 2026 if governments targets indeed are being fulfilled.

In the past 6 years, so Rystad Energy, about 200 wells were drilled annually between 2015 and 2020 with a total of around 1,100 wells. This is expected to to increase to 500 wells annually in 2025.

The crucial aspect in the context of estimating drilling activities depends largely on how governments are fulfilling their set targets.

As described in  the article by  Energy Global, the scaleability of geothermal has been an issue with the traditional focus on high-temperature/ high-enthalpy regions. With new technologies being targeted by new startups and investment by the oil and gas sector, things like EGS and advanced geothermal systems, such as closed-loop clearly expanding the opportunities and hopefully the scale of geothermal development worldwide.

The expansion of the geothermal sector beyond power generation with direct use for e.g. geothermal district heating clearly expands the opportunities even further.

Source: EnergyGlobal