Iceland's Plan to Drill Into a Volcano to Test 'Limitless' Supercharged Geothermal Energy (cnn.com) 20
In Iceland, "a volcanic system has awoken after an 800-year slumber," according to a multimedia CNN Special Report. "But in another part of Iceland, scientists and engineers are hoping to harness magma's immense power to solve the planet's biggest problem..."
It all started in 2009 when Bjarni Pálsson, an engineer with Iceland's national power company, accidentally drilled into a magma chamber. "Armed with new technology and know-how, he is going back in..." The ambition of the geothermal experts and volcanologists that comprise the Krafla Magma Testbed is to convert the immense heat and pressure into a new "limitless" form of supercharged geothermal energy — a tantalizing prospect as the world struggles to end its relationship with planet-heating fossil fuels. "This has never been done before," said Hjalti Páll Ingólfsson, director of the Geothermal Research Cluster, which developed the project....
If all goes to plan, the first borehole will be completed in 2027 and will mark the first time anyone has ever implanted sensors directly into a magma chamber... If the first drilling experiment succeeds, the team will move onto the second borehole, due to be completed in 2029 — and this could be the global gamechanger. It's here the team will attempt to harness the intense heat of magma to produce a new kind of extreme geothermal energy, many times more powerful than conventional...
If they succeed, the implications could reverberate around the world, Ingólfsson said. There are an estimated 800 million people living within roughly 60 miles of an active volcano.
The report includes a map showing volcano sites around the earth where similar drilling could theoretically unleash the same intense magma-powered extreme geothermal energy.
Iceland's plan is to drill down 1.2 miles — about 2 kilometers — into a magma chamber that's around 1,800 Fahrenheit (nearly 1,000 degrees Celsius). The engineering feat "won't be easy," the article acknowledges. "But as humans heat the planet at record speed with fossil fuel pollution, there is increasing pressure to perform moonshot feats of engineering to save us from ourselves."
It all started in 2009 when Bjarni Pálsson, an engineer with Iceland's national power company, accidentally drilled into a magma chamber. "Armed with new technology and know-how, he is going back in..." The ambition of the geothermal experts and volcanologists that comprise the Krafla Magma Testbed is to convert the immense heat and pressure into a new "limitless" form of supercharged geothermal energy — a tantalizing prospect as the world struggles to end its relationship with planet-heating fossil fuels. "This has never been done before," said Hjalti Páll Ingólfsson, director of the Geothermal Research Cluster, which developed the project....
If all goes to plan, the first borehole will be completed in 2027 and will mark the first time anyone has ever implanted sensors directly into a magma chamber... If the first drilling experiment succeeds, the team will move onto the second borehole, due to be completed in 2029 — and this could be the global gamechanger. It's here the team will attempt to harness the intense heat of magma to produce a new kind of extreme geothermal energy, many times more powerful than conventional...
If they succeed, the implications could reverberate around the world, Ingólfsson said. There are an estimated 800 million people living within roughly 60 miles of an active volcano.
The report includes a map showing volcano sites around the earth where similar drilling could theoretically unleash the same intense magma-powered extreme geothermal energy.
Iceland's plan is to drill down 1.2 miles — about 2 kilometers — into a magma chamber that's around 1,800 Fahrenheit (nearly 1,000 degrees Celsius). The engineering feat "won't be easy," the article acknowledges. "But as humans heat the planet at record speed with fossil fuel pollution, there is increasing pressure to perform moonshot feats of engineering to save us from ourselves."
Atlantis the sequel? (Score:1)
Asking for a friend... (Score:2)
What could possibly go wrong?
Re: (Score:1)
what hasn't already gone wrong?
our greed has managed to pollute and unbalance an entire biosphere
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Nothing. They have scientists on this project.
Re: (Score:3)
I'm guessing Balrog.
Re: (Score:2)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Obviously ... (Score:2)
Iceland's Plan to Drill Into a Volcano ...
Not the one with Elon's [pinimg.com] secret base though. :-)
Re: (Score:2)
The economy is so great, even convicted felons are being hired [imgur.com].
Fascinating (Score:5, Interesting)
Great piece. It would be interesting to know more about these sensors they want to install. Must be difficult to make ones that can survive those temps.
Re: (Score:2)
You can buy them off the shelf for various industrial processes involving very high temperatures. They made them out of materials with a very high melting point, and they provide either a thermocouple output or some have an IR sensor.
Probably the main issue they will have is protecting the cable leading to the sensor, as in industrial processes it's typically on the other side of some hefty insulation so doesn't get all that hot, relatively speaking.
Re: (Score:2)
https://sea.omega.com/th/pptst... [omega.com]
Price not given, if you have to ask...
MAG-ma (Score:2)
The person leading this effort doesn't happen to be bald, wear silver Nehru suits, and have a penchant for touching the corner of his mouth with his pinky?
Bonus points for sharks with frickin' lasers on their foreheads.
Should be fun (Score:2)
increasing pressure to perform moonshot feats
Where can I sit and watch the drill rig go flying? At least they stand a chance of hitting the moon before Boeing.