The home of America’s Tank Division is about to become part of an underground energy mission.
That’s because Houston-based Sage Geosystems has been awarded a government contract to analyze the potential for a largely underground energy storage system at Fort Bliss in El Paso, according to Worth Magazine. If completed, the setup would allow intermittent, renewable energy from solar and wind to be stored and discharged for 12 hours or longer.
It’s part of an ambitious Army sustainability plan that includes a fleet of hybrid tactical vehicles, carbon-free electricity at installations and deploying a microgrid at every base, with periodic targets between 2030 and 50.
Sage, which has made a name for itself with a dry rock geothermal storage technique, has been included to help with the electricity target. This method involves drilling thousands of feet into the ground, limiting the surface area required for the operation. Fractures are opened in the ground to serve as reservoirs to store water, which is pumped down when there is an abundance of – preferably sustainable – electricity.
The underground water is essentially a battery, in which the energy is stored. When the power is needed, a valve opens and the underground pressure pushes the water upward, where it spins a turbine to make electricity. By using underground pressure, the concept can be applied in more places, the company reports.
Sage has a number of versions of the concept. One of these concerns deeper boreholes that also use the heat of the earth. Both methods are claimed to be highly efficient and cleaner than lithium battery alternatives because they don’t require expensive and difficult-to-collect metals, all according to a Sage video clip.
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Worth reports that Sage is perfecting an even more efficient process to use supercritical CO2 to spin the turbines. It is an almost solid gas under pressure that can also be heated with underground air.
The innovations benefit from technology and drilling concepts from the fossil industry, sometimes even utilizing abandoned locations.
“Our understanding of geology and drilling techniques allows us to realize one goal: deploying geothermal energy everywhere,” Cindy Taff, CEO of Sage, told Worth.
At Fort Bliss the intention is to have 18 sources that provide constant power, sufficient for 10,000 households. Sage is also working on a prototype at the Air Force’s Ellington Field Joint Reverse Base, also in Texas. It is the next phase, after successful studies there.
Underground heat is attracting the interest of a range of energy developers. Massachusetts-based Quaise Energy plans to drill up to 12 miles (19 kilometers) deep into the earth to tap into more than 900-degree Fahrenheit temperatures.
Billed as an ‘energy source for a million years’, geothermal energy could completely transform our energy system. Imagine communities (and they already exist) where every home has clean energy from virtually unlimited underground heat, which would benefit humans by reducing electric bills and air pollution, contributing to a safer, cleaner, and more affordable future .
The 1st Armored Division may soon tap geothermal energy at Fort Bliss.
“We are the solution. We are ready,” Sage says on its website.
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