Foro Energy partners with the Department of Energy to commercialize high-power lasers for the oil, natural gas, geothermal, and mining industries. 

Photo courtesy of Foro Energy.

The Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO) partners with cutting-edge technology developers to pioneer applications that accelerate the adoption of geothermal energy. In 2013, Foro Energy Inc. partnered with the GTO, through a 50/50 cost share, to design a high-power laser system and laser-based well completion tool that could enable unique geothermal downhole well applications with the potential for superior thermal contacting between the wellbore and the surrounding geological formation.

As a key driver to significantly increase geothermal resource availability and competitively contribute clean, baseload power to the U.S. energy supply, this engineering prototype represents a fundamentally new tool for geothermal reservoir engineers that will allow them to increase fluid circulation and extend the available heat extraction resource per well. In addition to the potential for better access to the geothermal reservoir for heat extraction, the project also matures the core technology platform originally developed with a DOE Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA–E) award that enables the potential to decrease hard-rock drilling costs. The three-year Foro project will culminate in an onsite downhole field demonstration.