Foundation for Geothermal Innovation

The $10 Million Global Geothermal Challenge

Introduction

The goal of the Global Geothermal Challenge is to unlock the massive potential of geothermal energy around the world. Through competition, this challenge will forge the missing technological link that can dramatically increase yields in existing wells, bring hundreds of additional geothermal plants online, accelerate the commercialization of the geothermal industry and generate tens of billions of dollars of clean power that would otherwise remain underfoot.

The prize purse will be awarded to teams that design and build efficient and durable production-ready electric water pumps that can withstand the temperatures of the hottest geothermal wells, temperatures in excess of 400°F (200°C). This winner will also win a $75 Million sales contract for 100 next generation down hole geothermal pumps.

Why an Incentive Prize?

While they help bring about incremental advances, market forces and regulatory changes will not pry open the true potential of geothermal energy. What often motivates a scientific breakthrough is the remarkable financial leverage inherent in a well-designed large incentive prize. Charles Lindberg’s solo flight across the Atlantic in 1927 won him the $25,000 Ortieg prize and helped speed investment into the civil aviation industry. Amazingly, competitors for the Ortieg prize raised and spent $400,000 on the competition – 16 times the prize purse. In 2004, Burt Rutan won the original X PRIZE in space flight and its $10 million prize purse. The 26 teams in that competition spent over $100 million in pursuit of the $10 Million prize – a powerful illustration of the 10X plus leverage that can be applied to a category that deserves substantial research and development.

Why Geothermal?

Today, fossil fuels generate 85% of the power produced every year. The risks of this dependence are well known; significant greenhouse gas production, air pollution, and water and soil contamination. There is a global scramble to find clean renewable sources of energy that can replenish themselves naturally over a short amount of time such as wind, solar and hydropower.

Climate-friendly geothermal energy is “the forgotten renewable” with a small footprint and low carbon output (1/15 to 1/30th that of natural gas).

Electric utility companies find geothermal appealing because it can supply base load power and it is not subject to the temporal or seasonal aspects of wind, solar or (carbon-releasing) biofuels.

Geothermal energy (heat mining) is currently limited to shallow geothermal reservoirs (depths of less than 3 km, or 10,000 feet) restricting its utility to specific geologic “hot zones.” But larger heat resources exist worldwide at depth. The challenge is not achieving that depth, it is creating a serviceable motor pump able to withstand significantly high temperatures and steadily pump hot water to the surface. With this one breakthrough innovation, geothermal energy could be tapped in 49 of the 50 United States and dozens of countries currently without access. It would rapidly bring billions of dollars of renewable energy online with substantial positive long-term global impacts.

The need for this technical device has been identified by Sandia National Labs and within a 2006 MIT Report on Geothermal Energy. It is a major technical impediment to broad commercialization of geothermal energy.

The Competition

Design Target

The prize money will be awarded to teams that design and build, to the challenge’s specifications, efficient and durable production-ready electric water pumps that can withstand the deepest of well temperatures in excess of 400°F. They must also;

• Be serviceable
• Have a capacity of 1,000 HP
• Operate at 83-87% efficiency
• Be manufacturable in quantity.
• Be no more than ten inches in diameter

A technical meeting to scope and develop the design requirements for the prize, now known as “The Lemelson Meeting” was held Wednesday, February 11, 2009 at the Faculty Club at Stanford University in tandem with the annual Stanford Geothermal Workshop. Produced by the Foundation for Geothermal Innovation, the meeting validated and reviewed many of the key parameters of designing a technical geothermal pump prize. Sponsors of the meeting included the Geothermal Energy Association and the Geothermal Resource Council who sent participants. The U.S. Dept of Energy Geothermal Technologies Program sent staff from the National Labs as well as a designated observer from headquarters in Washington D.C. TheInternational Geothermal Partnership for Technology was also in attendance as was Alta-Rock Energy, Google, SAIC and the major pump companies Baker Hughes Centrilift and The Woods Group. Funding from the meeting came from Lemelson Foundation, a philanthropic non-profit committed to the creation and demonstration of innovation and entrepreneurship.

Teams

In order to provide the greatest diversity and encourage the most innovation, there will be very few limitations on the types of teams that can enter this challenge and compete, ranging from university to existing pump manufacturers.

Teams will be required to pay a nominal entry fee. Submissions will be assessed based on specific design requirements provided by the challenge organizers. Competition requirements will include; safety, serviceability, and the production plan before being allowed to compete on the in-ground testing. A major educational tie-in component will include a national geothermal business plan competition.

Two 45-day tests within a period of 150 days will be conducted in Roosevelt, Utah, with a target completion date of October 2014. This provides time for teams to prepare their entries after the challenge is announced.

Key Principals/Creators

Lawrence Molloy is an engineer who has worked in the clean tech arena around the Pacific Rim for over a decade with EBARA Corporation, one of Japan’s leading machinery companies. His work on infrastructure has spanned from working as a mining geologist in West Virginia, to serving as a Commissioner with the Port of Seattle. Working for the U.S. EPA in Washington D.C. in the early 1990’s, he was decorated for his work on civil rights and the environment. He has a degree in geology Colgate University and received an M.S. in engineering from Stanford.

Michael Lindsay has worked in and around the new venture space throughout the entirety of his career as a banker, entrepreneur, intrapreneur and consultant, with clients ranging from first-time entrepreneurs to the top executive tiers of multi-billion dollar enterprises. He has a rare, substantial understanding of how to design, build and launch large incentive prizes as he was recently the Vice President, Prize and Program Development at the X PRIZE Foundation in charge of developing their prizes in energy, health, medicine, education and venture philanthropy. Michael is currently a Managing Partner at Proteus Environmental Technologies. He has a BA from Duke University and an MBA from the Wharton School.

For further information contact Lawrence Molloy at lawrence.molloy@geothermalinnovation.org or directly at 1.206.855.6710 or Michael Lindsay at michael.lindsay@geothermalinnovation.org or directly at 323 533 2375.