GreenFire Energy wins partner for pilot project in Japan

ECO2G infographic (source: GreenFire Energy)

U.S.-based technnology player GreenFire Energy Inc. and Japanese Mitsui Oil Exploration Co., Ltd. (MOECO) announced having entered an agreement for GreenFire Energy to design and assist MOECO in performing a demonstration and testing of one of GreenFire Energy’s closed-loop geothermal solutions at a geothermal resource in Japan.

The goals are to demonstrate substantial heat recovery from an exploratory well which has already been drilled but cannot be produced by conventional geothermal technology and to assess the techno-economic feasibility of developing the resource with new technology to create a large-scale geothermal power production facility. MOECO is an oil and gas exploration, development, and production company that is part of the Mitsui Group. The company has been focused on geothermal energy as an important potential source of renewable energy in Japan and other areas.

GreenFire Energy is uniquely suited to assess the potential of geothermal resources by applying its experience with similar geothermal resources, advanced well modeling capability, and new technologies to determine the technical and financial viability of large geothermal projects before major costs are incurred. The demonstration and testing project will assess the ability of GreenFire Energy’s approach to capture heat from the resource for power production. If the project is successful, the testing is expected to proceed to develop a large scale test project with innovative geothermal technology that could include GreenFire Energy’s approach.

“Our focus on geothermal energy is an important part of our business and leverages our experience in the oil and gas exploration realm. MOECO and the Mitsui Group are exploring a number of green renewable energy opportunities, including geothermal. GreenFire Energy’s technology can potentially solve some of the challenges of conventional geothermal development, and will be a great way to move MOECO forward in geothermal energy production,” said HAMAMOTO Hirotaka, chief executive officer, MOECO.

“GreenFire Energy is delighted to work with MOECO on this project. Not only is the resource that we are testing excellent for use with our technology, but we are very impressed with MOECO’s vision in rapidly moving forward to investigate new geothermal technology that is specially designed to match the geothermal resource,” said Joseph Scherer, chief executive officer, GreenFire Energy Inc.

Source: company release by email