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While Dandelion is the flashiest player in the Geothermal space right now because of their relationship with Google, they really aren't offering too much innova
by notindustry 8y ago
While Dandelion is the flashiest player in the Geothermal space right now because of their relationship with Google, they really aren't offering too much innovation inside the industry where some really exciting things are happening.
For example, there is startup, Geothermal Drilling Solutions [1], that is, in my opinion, poised to disrupt the entire industry.
Their website isn't great, but from what saw and heard from them at a recent conference, they have a rig that can drill in the basements of existing structures. They are going to bring geothermal to major population centers where it is otherwise impossible, and I'm hopeful from the demo I saw, do it faster and cheaper than "traditional" drillers like Dandelion.
[1]: https://www.geothermaldrillingsolutions.com/ https://www.geothermaldrillingsolutions.com/
- exelius 8y agoMost cities don’t include adequate ground-depth rights in land titles, so home-scale geothermal in cities is almost certainly out. This isn’t a regulatory thing; you literally only own the first 10 feet of ground or so (hence so many horizontal geothermal systems). Should play pretty well in the suburbs, where oil heat is more common.
- notindustry 8y agoYou're right that does prevent some drilling depending on the city and it is a shame as it locks out a lot of downtown properties. I'm also not a big fan of horizontal systems and prefer vertical fields whenever possible. Still, I'm excited because I think there is a big market for residential and commercial spaces that don't have the footprint or alley access to fit a conventional rig.