Ampegon is pleased to announce that it is supporting US industrial start-up Quaise Energy in its quest to develop a practically limitless form of renewable energy generation: Geothermal power.
A spin-off from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)’s Plasma Sciences and Fusion Center in the USA and the University of Cambridge in the UK, Quaise aims to use focussed radio waves to drill deep into the ground to take advantage of the heat generated in the centre of the Earth to create supercritical steam to drive turbines and generate electricity. However, in most places, the necessary temperatures only occur tens of kilometers underground, meaning standard drilling equipment can’t reach deep enough economically.
Quaise, however, won’t use drills. The company is developing technology to use high-energy RF to melt its way through the rock using techniques already proven in the lab. The RF is generated using gyrotrons using electrical energy provided by a diesel generator and converted to run the gyrotron using an Ampegon power supply.
Carlos Araque, CEO of Quaise Energy explains: “Geothermal is the most abundant and powerful renewable on Earth and Quaise seeks to unlock it at the terawatt scale to enable a global energy transition”. This is no understatement: geothermal energy taps into the extreme heat in the earth that powers volcanos. Tapping this energy could provide enormous amounts of power.
“The unique nature of drilling operations, outdoors, in all weathers, at unknown locations, is incompatible with the research lab settings of the vast majority of gyrotrons and high voltage power supply units” adds Ampegon’s Dr. Simon Keens: “Quaise have challenged Ampegon to design and build a suitable power supply that is mounted inside shipping crates so that it can be transported from place to place with ease, needs minimal setup upon arrival, and is capable to be operated in all conditions on a work site.”
In this respect, this is not Ampegon’s first time supplying high voltage power supplies mounted in shipping crates. In 2000, Ampegon supplied such a system providing 50kV at 208A. The customer at the time: MIT Plasma Sciences and Fusion Center. In this respect, the only novel aspect is the requirement to be moved regularly and to operate from a generator rather than from the grid.
“We are very happy that Ampegon is broadening our contributions to future clean energy technologies” adds Marcel Frei, Business Unit Manager: “We have been supporting fusion research – which promises almost limitless green energy to replace fossil fuels – for almost 20 years. Now the technologies developed from fusion research are being spun out into other areas of clean energy generation. We are proud to continue to support environmental initiatives such as Quaise as they roll out their new technologies.”
Ampegon is contracted to provide 2x systems supplying 600kW power (85kV at 8A), with output suitable for operation with various types of gyrotron.