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A Texas startup has made a major breakthrough towards achieving next-generation geothermal power after using oil drilling technology to tap the renewable energy source. Houston-based Fervo Energy successfully completed a trial of the system, which saw a drill plunge 2.3km (7,700 feet) into the Earth’s surface in order to pump water into them. Heated by high temperatures deep underground, the water was then pumped back to the surface where turbines converted the heat into electricity. The 30-day well test produced record-breaking power output for an enhanced geothermal system of 3.5 megawatts of electric production – enough to power more than 2,500 homes. “By applying drilling technology from the oil and gas industry, we have proven that we can produce 24/7 carbon-free energy resources in new geographies across the world,” said Tim Latimer, co-founder and chief executive of Fervo Energy. “The incredible results we share today are the product of many years of dedicated work and commitment from Fervo employees and industry partners.” One of these partners is Google, who signed an agreement in 2021 to develop the technology to provide carbon-free energy for its Cloud region in Las Vegas. Current geothermal energy production is mostly limited to locations near tectonic plates, such as Iceland, where magma close to the Earth’s surface is easier to reach. The latest feat marks a key milestone towards Fervo Energy’s plans to construct a 400MW project using its next-generation geothermal technology, which is expected to be online by 2028. “Power systems modelling confirms that geothermal can be a critical player in a fully decarbonised grid,” said Jesse Jenkins, an assistant professor and leader of the Zero-carbon Energy systems Research and Optimisation (ZERO) lab at Princeton University. “Fervo’s successful commercial pilot takes next-generation geothermal technology from the realm of models into the real world and starts us on a path to unlock geothermal’s full potential.” Read More Scientists invent double-sided solar panel that generates vastly more electricity ‘It is electrifyingly exciting’: How Britain could be freed from fossil fuels forever

Researchers have come up with a new way to generate electricity with solar panel technology by harvesting the energy produced by raindrops. The method, proposed by a team from Tsinghua University in China, involves a device called a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) that creates electrification from liquid-solid contact. These are typically used to harvest energy from waves, as droplet-based TENGs (D-TENGs) have previously faced technical limitations that prevented them from working at any significant scale. By using solar panel bridge arrays, the researchers discovered such barriers could be overcome “Referring to the design of solar panels in which multiple solar power generation units are connected in parallel to supply the load, we are proposing a simple and effective method for raindrop harvesting,” said Professor Zong Li, who led the research. “The peak power output of the bridge array generators is nearly five times higher than that of the conventional large-area raindrop energy harvesting. The results of this study will provide a feasible scheme for large-area raindrop energy harvesting.” A study detailing the breakthrough, titled ‘Rational TENG arrays as a panel for harvesting large-scale raindrop energy’, was published in the journal iEnergy. “As an important part of the natural energy and water cycle, rainfall contains abundant renewable energy,” the study notes. “However, this kind of renewable energy lacks effective utilisation today... Therefore, finding a reasonable topology to relieve the inherent constraints of D-TENGs is of great significance for realising the large-scale raindrop energy harvesting.” It is one of a number of promising advances with solar panel technology in recent months, with an Australian team of researchers developing self-healing cells capable of recovering 100 per cent of their original efficiency after suffering degradation from space radiation. Earlier this week, scientist’s at the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) unveiled a design for a double-sided solar panel capable of boosting efficiency rates by up to 20 per cent by harvesting reflected sunlight. Read More Scientists invent double-sided solar panel that generates vastly more electricity How tech could turn our homes into renewable energy power stations Scientists invent double-sided solar panel that generates vastly more electricity Scientists invent self-healing solar panels with ‘miracle material’ ‘Miracle material’ smashes solar panel efficiency threshold