CeraPhi Energy has entered into an exclusive drilling and intervention services agreement with Halliburton to repurpose end-of-life oil and gas wells for geothermal energy in the UK.
With a focus on both the UK and US, the two companies expect the first project within the UK to commence before the end of the year.
Utilising a patented technology dubbed CeraPhiWell, a closed loop downhole heat exchanger draws subsurface heat for different applications for scalable baseload energy.
This can be utilised across a variety of applications such as low temperature climatised agriculture, medium temperature heat networks, medium temperature heating systems and industrial processes, desalination and water treatment, power generation and green hydrogen through electrolysis.
“This is a very exciting stage of CeraPhi Energy’s commercialisation and totally in line with our strategic plan to align ourselves with serious execution and delivery partners who believe in the tremendous opportunity for geothermal and have the ability to scale globally,” said Karl Farrow, CEO of CeraPhi Energy.
“Scaling this opportunity is key to reducing cost and making geothermal energy the baseload energy of choice everywhere for everyone. The oil and gas service sector is key to this transition and Halliburton has been in business for more than 100 years.
“They have been at the forefront of innovation and technology for well delivery, which is perfect for this collaboration. This collaboration is a natural fit and could be game-changing for geothermal’s role in the energy transition and have a revolutionary impact on onshore oil and gas sector’s late life and ‘orphaned’ wells.”
Geothermal energy has been trending in the UK with Geothermal Engineering Ltd (GEL) having announced plans in 2021 for four 5MWe geothermal power plants in Cornwall.
The rollout follows the company building a proof-of-concept power plant on the United Downs Industrial Estate in Cornwall, which is now producing what it says is the UK’s first geothermal steam.
It is using 175°C water, extracted from a record-breaking 5.1km underground that will be used to deliver approximately 3MWe to the National Grid. GEL says it is on track to deliver its first electricity from the site in 2022.
“We are pleased to build on our decades of global geothermal business to collaborate with CeraPhi Energy to deliver and maximise the value of their geothermal wells,” said Steve Nowe, senior area manager at Halliburton Europe.
“This agreement will allow us to deliver fully integrated solutions to reduce planning time, lower costs and optimise the value chain performance.”
