Andrew Van Noy had been working for years on the business side of tech when he decided to go all in on renewable energy. Geothermal power, he says, is the "holy grail of eternal green energy," and he launched a company focused on making it more possible to pursue.
Now the CEO of what became Lehi-based DeepPower, Van Noy appreciated Utah's robust economy built around tech startups. He felt it would be an excellent location to run a company seeking to make renewable energy available everywhere.
"Utah's very forward thinking, so the government is forward thinking; the universities have been able to drill and test geothermal," he says. "It made sense to build [the company] here."
While Utah's support of geothermal inspired him, he looked to experts outside the state where drilling was more common. He secured a $2 million investment to get the research going and began looking for areas where his company could fill in gaps.
Specifically, he spoke to scientists in Iceland and at the University of Oklahoma, where drilling is extremely popular and geothermal energy projects have taken place. He also connected with researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, all with the idea of supporting their work by offering for-profit solutions.
The whole concept comes down to drilling. Geothermal energy works by drilling wells to access steam in the planet's crust about six miles deep, burning at 400 degrees Fahrenheit which activates a generator to create electricity. While there are several ways to achieve this, Van Noy mainly focuses on the "flash steam" method, which involves using higher water temperatures. The energy produced could provide enough power to maintain society with ease for generations to come. Because this would require massive drilling programs across the planet to achieve, Van Noy sees it as a perfect political solution; oil and gas companies could pivot while remaining within their technical realm, and it could appease opponents of that industry by providing renewable energy.
Click here to read the full article in Utah Business.
