"If you can remove the cost of drilling through the use of facilities that are already there, you go a long way toward making geothermal a really inexpensive way to access the heat that's in the earth," says Benjamin Burke, Gradient's CEO.
The wells on the site are 9,000 feet deep. The amount of heat at a given depth varies depending on location-Nevada, for example, has more geothermal potential than Colorado. But the site in Pierce "is at a depth where there's plenty of heat for the town," Burke says.
Over the next several months, the startup will be studying the feasibility of the system for the site, looking at what it would take to build, how many buildings it can support, the cost, and the potential greenhouse gas emissions reductions.
In Pierce, when the oil wells shut down, they were producing only around 2% oil and 98% hot water. If Gradient's plan moves forward as it envisions, it will harness that hot water and send it to a central facility.
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