Journal of Earth Science, Vol. 26, No. 1, p.

037–046, February 2015 ISSN 1674-487X

Printed in China
DOI: 10.1007/s12583-015-0519-x

Electro-Pulse-Boring (EPB): Novel Super-Deep Drilling

Technology for Low Cost Electricity
Hans O. Schiegg*1, Arild Rødland2, Guizhi Zhu3, David A. Yuen4, 5
1. SwissGeoPower AG, Stadtturmstrasse 19 CH-5401, Switzerland
2. Department of Petroleum Engineering and Applied Geophysics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology,
7491 Trondheim, Norway
3. Department of Earth Sciences, ETH-Zurich CH-8092, Switzerland
4. Department of Earth Sciences and Minnesota Supercomputing Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis MN 55455, USA
5. School of Environmental Studies, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China

ABSTRACT: The inexhaustible heat deposit in great depths (5–10 km) is a scientific fact. Such deposit
occurs around the globe. Thereby, everybody is enabled to generate autonomously clean and renew-
able energy, ample electricity and heat. The economical exploration and exploitation of this super-
deep geothermal heat deposit requires a novel drilling technique, because the currently only deep
drilling method (Rotary) is limited to about 5 km, due to the rising costs, depending exponentially on
depth. Electro-pulse-boring (EPB) is a valuable option to Rotary drilling. EPB, originally investigated
in Russia, is ready to be developed for industrialization. The feasibility of EPB is proven by many
boreholes drilled up to 200 m in granite (crystalline). Estimates show outstanding low costs for drilling
by EPB: 100 €/m for a borehole with a large diameter (Ø) such as 20" (50 cm), independent on depth
and applicable likewise for sediments and crystalline rocks, such as granite. The current rate of pene-
tration (ROP) of 3 m per hour is planned to be augmented up to 35 m per hour, and again, irrespec-
tive whether in sedimentary or crystalline formations. Consequently, a 10 km deep borehole with Ø 50
cm will ultimately be drilled within 12 days. EPB will create new markets, such as: (i) EPB shallow
drilling for geotechnics, energy piles, measures in order to mitigate natural hazards, etc., (ii) EPB deep
drilling (3–5 km) for hydro-geothermics, exploration campaigns etc. and (iii) EPB super-deep drilling
(5–10 km) for petro-geothermics, enabling the economic generation of electricity. The autonomous and
unlimited supply with cost efficient electricity, besides ample heat, ensures reliably clean and renew-
able energy, thus, high supply security. Such development will provide a substantial relief to cope with
the global challenge to limit the climate change below 2 ºC. The diminution of fossil fuels, due to the
energy transition in order to mitigate the climate change, implies likewise the decrease of air pollution.
KEY WORDS: drilling technology, electro pulse, petro-geothermics, geoenergy, geothermal electricity,
climate change, air pollution.

1 WHY A NOVEL DRILLING TECHNOLOGY? criterion for the optimal mix of the renewable primary energies,
1.1 “Energy Transition” (Exit of Nuclear and Fossil) petro-geothermics shows to be a highly valuable option, as
Both, the incident of Fukushima and the climate change, shown by the “Weissbuch zur Energiewende” (Schiegg et al.,
as analyzed by IPCC (Stocker et al., 2013), prompted the poli- 2013), an initiative of SwissGeoPower AG. This statement holds
tics, at least of Germany and Switzerland, to launch the “energy specifically, if the geothermal heat exceeds 150 °C, thus enabling
transition”, which means the replacement of the non-renewable the efficient generation of electricity, besides heat. Energy of
primary energies (nuclear and fossil) by the renewable ones: geothermal origin, both electricity and heat, is called geoenergy.
sun, wind, water, geo-energy and bio-energy. For Switzerland, Traditional and proven technologies can never provide the
the exit of nuclear and fossil energies implies the replacement necessary amount of energy to replace the nuclear and fossil
of more than 70% of the gross energy consumption. energies. For Switzerland, as an example and according to the
Taking the security of a sustainable energy supply as Akademien der Wissenschaften, Schweiz (Aegerter et al.,
2012), until 2050 at the maximum 12% can be replaced by
*Corresponding author: [Link]@[Link] proven technologies. If the due 75% shall be compensated,
© China University of Geosciences and Springer-Verlag Berlin novel technologies are inalienable.
Heidelberg 2015
1.2 Is the Deep Petro-Geothermal Heat Deposit Really In-
Manuscript received August 14, 2014. exhaustible?
Manuscript accepted October 4, 2014. Ninety-nine percent of the earth’s interior are hotter than

Schiegg, H. O., Rødland, A., Zhu, G. Z., et al., 2015. Electro-Pulse-Boring (EPB): Novel Super-Deep Drilling Technology for Low
Cost Electricity. Journal of Earth Science, 26(1): 37–46. doi:10.1007/s12583-015-0519-x
38 Hans O. Schiegg, Arild Rødland, Guizhi Zhu and David A. Yuen

1 000 °C. The earth’s radius amounts to 6 370 km. Underneath Hydro-geothermics extracts the heat from hot water, per-
the crust, which envelops the entire globe, temperature exceeds colating along the interface between sediments and igneous
1 000 °C. The continental crust is up to 50 km thick. The yel- rock as aquitard. Such water occurs erratically only. Its yield is
low cube of rock with black dotted edges with a side length of often too low for an economic heat supply and its temperature
10×10×10 km, as shown by Fig. 1, is a tiny little bit of the is in general too low for an economic power generation.
globe’s crust, comparable to a grain of sand in the desert. Nev- Petro-geothermics provides, in contrary to hydro-
ertheless, the content of heat of the yellow cube with its center geothermics, efficiently electric power, under the assumption
at 7 km depth, thus, with a mean temperature of 240 °C, equals that the heat, withdrawn from the rock directly, exceeds 220 ºC,
the annual gross energy consumption of the whole world’s implying great depths (5–10 km). In principle, there are two
population, for all purposes. Consequently, petro-geothermal ways to extract the heat, either by a closed system with one
heat is inexhaustible. The radial outflow of heat of 50 MW/m2 borehole or by an open system with at least two boreholes.
ensures renewability. Open petro-geothermics (OPG), see Fig. 2, operates with
an open heat exchanger, created by fracking the rock, between
two boreholes up to 1 km separated from each other. The cold
10 ºC
7 km water is injected by the injection borhole.
The water is heated during its percolation from the injec-
S=10 km Ocean
tion well to the roundly arranged production boreholes. By the
50 km

Continental production boreholes the hot water is pumped to the surface

O c e a n ic
1 000 ºC crust c ru st again. OPG is also called as “enhanced geothermal system”
350 km

(EGS) or “hot dry rock” (HDR). The boreholes are drilled by

Upper ma
n tl e Rotary drilling.
Closed petro-geothermics (CPG), see Fig. 3, deals with a
probe as heat exchanger. A heat-probe is a coaxial double tube
with the outer tube closed at its bottom. The cold water is
Figure 1. Globe’s crust contains an inexhaustible geother- pumped down through the gap between outer and inner tube.
mal deposit. The minor flow velocity in the outer tube allows the heating up
of the water to the temperature of the surrounding rock. In the
Geothermics has various other unique advantages, as the isolated inner tube the water is pumped up with a high velocity,
following. Geothermal power (i) is a base load (24 hours a day in order to minimize the loss of heat.
available, 365 days a year), (ii) is renewable and clean (no CO2 Heat-probes are well known from shallow (<400 m) geo-
emission), (iii) is ubiquitous, thus, on site available, which pro- thermics. In addition, a 2 300 m deep heat probe—a so called
vides autonomy, hence, highest possible security, (vi) is triple “Tiefe-Erd-Wärme-Sonde” (TEWS)—operates at Weggis (CH)
sustainable (economically, ecologically, socially), thus, with satisfactorily since 1994.
the minimum potential of conflicts (v) is nearly hazard-free, CPG is based on a Super-TEWS (S-TEWS) as heat ex-
since the maximum accident is an artificial gusher (geyser). changer, i.e., on a super deep (9 km) heat-probe. The S-TEWS
Today’s use-hampering factor of petro-geothermics is the is a 4 : 1 scale-up of the before mentioned, existing TEWS at
uneconomic access and exploitation of geothermal heat above Weggis. 4 to 1 refers to both depth and temperature. However,
150 ºC, which is necessary for an efficient generation of elec- the proof of principle is successfully rendered since a long time.
tricity. “More Power from Below” entitle Moore and Simmons Following the study of GEOWATT (Schiegg, 2011), or-
(2013) their article in Science, pointing out the need of tapping dered by SwissGeoPower AG, a 9 000 m CPG-power-plant
the thermal resource at depths of 3–10 km, subject to further (CPG-PP) provides 1 MWe (base-load electricity) and 8 MWth
research and development, and declaring such R & D as top (heat), assuming a cooling down of the system by 40 ºC within
priority. 20 years. SwissGeoPower AG plans to launch a corresponding
pilot-power-plant as soon as possible. Such power plant will be
1.3 Geothermal Heat Exploitation Systems a novelty. It will efficiently produce clean base-load electricity,
Up to now, the domain of deep drilling has been restricted without the need for fracking, thus, man-made earthquakes are
to the oil and gas industry. Oil and gas occur within sedimen- no issue.
tary rocks only, due to their porosity and permeability. Sedi- Prerequisite for the economic feasibility of CPG is a cost-
mentary formations are overlying impermeable igneous or efficient deep drilling method, allowing a large caliber, such as
metamorphic rocks. Igneous rock may form with crystallization EPB. The currently only available Rotary drilling can not be an
(crystalline) or without, either below the surface as intrusive alternative due to its too high costs.
(plutonic) rock or on the surface as extrusive (volcanic) rock. The characteristics of the two deep geothermal systems
Due to both the genesis of oil and gas and the missing perme- are summarized by the following table.
ability, in igneous rock no oil and gas occur. Therefore, the oil The exploiting system with a S-TEWS as heat exchanger
and gas industry is not interested to drill in igneous or meta- is obviously the best qualified system, since in Table 1 solely
morphic rock. Quite the contrary to petro-geothermics, exploit- for the S-TEWS all characteristics are positive (white). The
ing the heat from either consolidated sediments or, as usually, deeper the borehole and the larger its diameter, the higher the
igneous and metamorphic rock. energy production.
Electro-Pulse-Boring (EPB): Novel Super-Deep Drilling Technology for Low Cost Electricity 39

Table 1 Deep geothermal systems and their characteristics

Characteristics Deep geothermal systems (>400 m)

Hydro-geothermal system Petro-geothermal system
Swiss
in sediments (3–5 km) in crystalline (5–10 km)
conditions
by definition: porous by definition: hardly/non-porous
heat exploitation from water heat exploitation from rock
Open Closed Open Closed
system, system, system, system,
runs by runs by needs fracking, no need of fracking
DOUBLET TEWS runs by Runs by Runs by
(Tiefe-Erd- TRIPLET S-TEWS SHAFT
Wärme-Sonde) (Super-TEWS) (mining)
Range of power production (MWe) 1–5 1–50 1–50 100–1 000
Risk of missing Permeability, yield of hot water Fracs No such risk No such risk
Autonomy No No Yes Yes
Man-made earthquakes No Yes No No
Feasibility Tested Tested Realistic Unknown
Relevant for “energy transition” No Yes Yes Yes
Diameter of bottom hole/shaft 0.1–0.2 m 0.1–0.2 m 0.5 m 10 m

Figure 2. Open petro-geothermics: enhanced geothermal system (EGS) (based on Häring, 2007).
40 Hans O. Schiegg, Arild Rødland, Guizhi Zhu and David A. Yuen

1.4 Economic Access to Deep Geothermal Deposits

Before exploiting a deep heat deposit, it must be made ac-
cessible by drilling. Currently, Rotary drilling is the only well
proven deep drill technology. Rotary drilling has a long history.
At the stone age already, 4 000 B.C., mankind applied Rotary
drilling in order to perforate stones of hard rock with holes to
be mounted on the shaft of the stone axes, see Fig. 4.
The first oil wells were drilled in China in the 4th century
or earlier. They had depths of over 200 m and were drilled us-
ing bits attached to bamboo poles. By the 10th century, exten-
sive bamboo pipelines connected oil wells with salt springs,
where brine was evaporated by burning the oil.
Historically and still, there are two types of drill bits used:
(i) drag bits (today: fixed cutter) for soft rocks (sediments)
which are sheared and (ii) rock bits (today: roller cone) crush-
ing hard rock. In today’s modern industry the two main types
of drill bits are now classed as PDC (polycrystalline diamond
compact) and RC (roller cone), where tri-cone type dominates.
In addition, there exists the high speed natural diamond turbo
drill, where the bit is rotated by a hydraulically driven bottom
hole motor.
Rotary drilling is costly. Modest minimum costs for a
borehole in a sedimentary formation are commonly estimated
at about 2 000 €/m. The Swiss experiences of all three sites
(Basel, Triemli, St. Gallen) report much higher costs. Most re-
cent example, dated 13.02.2014, is St. Gallen with 36 €M. for
a borehole of 4 400 m, which equals over 8 000 €/m for drilling
and logging.
Figure 3. Closed petro-geothermics (CPG), based on a S-
Rotary drilling costs rise exponentially, as shown by the
TEWS as backbone of a 1 MWe CPG power plant (CPG-
diagram in Fig. 5. According to Tester et al. (2006), the gradient
PP).

Figure 4. Rotary drilling since the stone age 4 000 B.C..

Electro-Pulse-Boring (EPB): Novel Super-Deep Drilling Technology for Low Cost Electricity 41

Figure 5. Comparison of cost of Rotary drilling versus electro-pulse-boring.

of the blue line shows drilling costs by Rotary in a depth of 5 000 2 WHAT NOVEL DRILLING TECHNOLOGIES ARE
m of 7 300 US$/m and in 7 500 m costs of 40 000 US$/m. A IN DISCUSSION?
borehole of 8 000 m with a quite limited final diameter costs US$ With the intention to gather and display actual, non-
80 M.. Quite contrary to EPB, described in detail later in Sect. 3, abrasive drilling techniques, irrespective of their status of de-
for which the estimated costs are US$ 1.1 M. for 8 000 m. velopment, SwissGeoPower AG initiated a scientific interna-
Referring to both the earlier mentioned drilling depths of tional workshop at Neuchâtel (Bommer et al., 2012). Various
5–10 km and the heavy caliber of the borehole, required for an procedures were presented and discussed, such as based on (i)
efficient power production, Rotary drilling can not comply, laser for cutting and drilling, (ii) melting (super-deep fusion
least of all with an economic solution. Consequently, alterna- drilling), (iii) rock spallation by supercritical water jet and
tive drilling procedures must be found. hydrothermal flame, (iv) electro pulse boring, if beneficial
The Weissbuch (Schiegg et al., 2013) qualifies closed combined with adapted conventional technology.
petro-geothermics (CPG) above average referring to the secu- A comparison of the presented new drilling methods
rity of a sustainable electricity supply. As explained above, showed electro-pulse-boring (EPB) to be the by far most de-
successful CPG requires super-deep (5–10 km) boreholes of veloped technology, being closest to its industrialization. The
heavy caliber (500 mm) for definitely lower costs than the proof of concept is rendered since longtime. Boreholes up to
mentioned 2 000 €/m. Most probably, such drilling must be of over 200 m in depth have been successfully drilled already.
a non-abrasive character due to the overwhelming friction loss As the currently best developed and most economic new
as exemplified by the abrasive Rotary drilling. It explains the drilling method for both sediments and crystalline, EPB has been
need to abandon Rotary drilling for geothermal purposes, irre- evaluated by SwissGeoPower to become the technology, with
spective of its long tradition and the vast experience. This fact which a Pilot-CPG-PP, see Fig. 3, shall be established. First step
seems to be a nearly insurmountable threshold, for profession- will be the accomplishment of the Swiss EPB technology plat-
als, as well as for decision makers too. For a long time they form (EPB-TP), including the drilling of 300 m boreholes in
have been inclined to believe that the only ones who are capa- crystalline, as well as in dry and wet sediments. The EPB-TP
ble to manage deep drilling technically and financially are ei- comprises all facilities and devices to drill deeper. Estimated
ther the oil and gas industry or the electricity utilities. Yet, both time is 2.5 years. Estimated costs are 12 €M., if accomplished
are neither interested nor motivated to create a competition, abroad and depending on boundary conditions 19 €M.. For costs
forcing them to change their business models. and time periods of the further steps see Sect. 4.2.
42 Hans O. Schiegg, Arild Rødland, Guizhi Zhu and David A. Yuen

3 CHARACTERISTICS OF ELECTRO-PULSE-BORING It is to be understood that the current EPB-TP with its

(EPB) demonstrated excavation capability is to be viewed as a step on
3.1 Principle of EPB the way towards an ultimate goal of a 10 times higher excava-
EPB applies an electro-pulse of 100–1 000 kilovolts and tion rate, which has already been demonstrated, though not
1–10 kJ energy content to the bottom of the borehole. Below while drilling. However, already the 19 cm3 per pulse is of a
the matrix surface, a conductive channel is formed along a magnitude which has commercial viability in many applica-
curved plane whereby the matrix material above the channel tions. Central in the onward development are the principles of
comes loose, as shown by Figs. 6 and 7a. All that happens technology application, as described in the patents. Of compa-
within nanoseconds, thus, there is no forming caused by heat. rable importance are sufficient flexibility in the pulse power,
The volume of loose material per pulse has been documented at supplied to the hole bottom, as well as to cope with the ambient
15–20 cm3 while the drilling process, and 10 times more under conditions which apply for deep holes. EPB’s excavation effi-
circumstances when the electrodes have been managed quite ciency depends on electrode gaps as large as possible within a
specifically. With a pulse frequency of 10 Hz this corresponds given borehole. Large electrode gaps, few of them and cover-
to an excavation rate of 0.6 m3/h and with Ø=50 cm to a rate age of the hole-bottom by seep are key principles, as well as
of penetration (ROP) of 3 m/h. Taking the heavy borehole di- enough reserve voltage and energy to maintain pulse quality
ameter of 50 cm into account, this state of the art ROP is con- under all relevant conditions.
siderable. Nevertheless, the augmentation of the ROP is a high-
priority goal of further development, as explained in detail by 3.3 Costs of both EPB and Its Hybrids
Sect. 3.4. According to qualified estimates, EPB holds the promise
to bring the specific costs of a large diameter and super-deep
3.2 EPB in Reality borehole in hard rock down to 100 €/m, see (Rodland, 2012, p.
In the course of development of the technology many 140 therein). It should be understood that this is a magnitude
large diameter test boreholes have been drilled by EPB already, indicator which presumes a development process over some
near all in granite. Granite was selected as the reference matrix time. However, such extraordinarily low specific costs for
material for the development. All holes were of shallow depth super-deep boreholes (5–10 km) with big diameter (20"≈Ø 50
as the purpose always was the testing of the drill technology cm) are revolutionary, and even more so for hard rocks like
and not the depth. granite.
In 2009, an EPB-technology demonstration-rig was facili- The analysis which leads to the indicated specific cost
tated in Bergen-Norway. There, a 15" diameter shallow hole was numbers follows two alternative paths. One alternative is based
drilled in the local Norwegian hard rock. Subsequently, in 2011, on currently demonstrated EPB excavation values in combina-
for the first time drilling was conducted with a rotating EPB bit tion with adapted conventional drilling technology (ACT). The
which demonstrated 19 cm3 per pulse of excavated granite matrix other one refers on future, very attractive drilling velocity per-
material. This represents the state of the art. It defines the EPB spectives (ROP), currently up to 35 m/h, in combination with
technology platform (EPB-TP) from which EPB applications may conventional drilling technology as is. The high ROP and the
be developed, such as deep geothermal drilling. ensueing short completion time per borehole tend to diminish
the impact of an expensive operation. The combination with
conventional technology pertains to matters like (i) the trans-
portation of drilled matrix material (=the cuttings) out from the
borehole, (ii) the tonnage of surface equipment and (iii) the
manning needed to conduct the drilling operation.
As an example: the cuttings return transport to the surface
by annular fluid flow, according to conventional technology, is
the singularly largest energy consumer in a large diameter
borehole. Adaptation of technology in this case could mean a
cutting’s return by a small diameter hose. The return of cuttings
by a hose reduces the energy consumption for circulation to a
small fraction of the conventional return by the annulus, as
tested and actually used by the authors of this article. First time
used in the 1990s already, during the development of horizontal
drilling technology. Nowadays, return of cuttings by hose is
beginning to emerge from various supply sources.
Also important to understand is the fact that boreholes are
widely different and demanding widely different technologies.
Again, as an example: the drilling in sedimentary formations,
pressurized by fluids (liquid or gas), demands a multiple string
heavy casing protection. Whereas drilling in crystalline, as per
definition for petro-geothermics, may well encounter stable
Figure 6. Electro-pulse-boring (EPB) principle. borehole walls and be dry, demanding no casing protection.
Electro-Pulse-Boring (EPB): Novel Super-Deep Drilling Technology for Low Cost Electricity 43

Figure 7. (a) Spalled segment of rock in experiment; (b) EPB drill bit, Ø 311 mm; (c) EPB borehole.

Consequently, the surface drilling equipment package is of orders lower costs are constant. Rotary ends in 5 000 m depth
much smaller tonnage. Keeping the tonnage low keeps not only with Ø=20 cm, whereas EPB can reach 9 000 m with Ø=50 cm.
the capital costs low but also tends to lower the manning costs. As already mentioned, newest developments of EPB tend
Comprehensive analyses of this kind have led to the spe- to a hybrid PDC-EPB drill bit concept (PDC is explained in
cific drilling costs magnitude indicator of 100 €/m for EPB. Sect. 1.4). Much higher ROP’s than for common PDC are to be
Please note, as an average for even a deep and large diameter expected, particularly in hard sedimentary and crystalline rocks.
borehole. Of course, the specific costs are lower for the upper
parts and higher for the lower parts of the borehole, because 4 NEW MEGA-MARKETS
cutting’s transportation takes more time and the breakage more 4.1 Commercialization of EPB
energy. However, compared with the exponential rise of costs By further developments of EPB, bringing EPB to its in-
for Rotary drilling, the costs of EPB may be considered as dustrialization and into the market, a cost-efficient technique
roughly constant. for deep drilling (5–10 km) with large diameter becomes avail-
A matter of special interest, also to the petroleum industry, able for autonomous and unlimited production of low-cost re-
arises by drilling geological formations of alternating hard rock newable electricity (base-load) and heat, due to the ubiquitous
and softer sediments. There are current known cases, where and inexhaustible energy deposit in 5–10 km depth.
drilling has been abandoned, because the current technology The stepwise commercialization of EPB implies the ad-
rendered the formation as un-drillable. The new (2014) EPB vantage of the “drill and sell” concept, yielding first revenues
patenting looks to offer a solution. Its hybrid (Rotary and EPB) after the third year already. The shallow drilling (<400 m,
concept has been developed for keeping ROP in spite of alter- Ø=50 cm) market, serving in the context of geotechnics, natu-
nating sand and granite strings, fluid (liquid or gas) pressurized ral hazards, energy piles etc. is a hundreds of million market
or not pressurized. Furthermore, this hybrid concept is fully for Switzerland only. The deep drilling ( >1 000 m, <5 000 m,
compatible with whatever mud is being used. The hybrid EPB- Ø=50 cm) market is even for Switzerland alone a billion (109)
system could very well be a beginner’s drilling assembly, also market, serving for (i) an area-wide deep subsurface explora-
for the geothermal community, though it will not directly create tion (a Swiss parliamentary decision), (ii) hydro-geothermics,
the ultimate in terms of low specific costs. Yet, the approach is (iii) heat supply and disposal (cooling), (iv) deep subsurface
compatible with existing drilling rigs and procedures and, fur- engineering as CO2-deposition or nuclear waste disposal, etc..
thermore, it is insensitive to (i) lithology, (ii) formation fluid
pressure and (iii) the drilling mud. The new system is currently 4.2 Energy Price and Supply Capacity
in a licensing phase and is supposed to be initiated into tests The accomplishment of the Pilot-1 MWe-CPG-PP, Fig. 3,
and operations soon. comprises as its first milestone the establishment of the EPB-
technology platform (EPB-TP), achieved within 2.5 years for
3.4 Capacity of EPB 12 and 19 €M., respectively, as explained in Sect. 2. The con-
According to Rodland (2012, p. 138 therein) the excava- secutive milestones are 1 000, 2 500, 5 000, 7 500 and 9 000 m.
tion in granite mounts to 7 m3 per hour by having an electrode For the Pilot-1 MWe-CPG-PP—concluded by its last step, the
gap of 12–15 cm, applying the current state of the art maximum establishment of the facilities for both the power generation
pulse repetition frequency of 20 Hz. An extraordinary ROP of and the device to connect the distributors of power and heat—
up to 35 m/h for a Ø=50 cm borehole in granite is the result the total costs are 135 €M. over 7.5 years. The resulting power
with the consequence: 12 days for a 9 000 m borehole, the production costs are 26 € Cents/kWh. The second 1 MWe
backbone of a 1 MWe CPG-PP, see Fig. 3. CPG-PP is built much quicker and is much cheaper. Within 4.5
Figure 8, comparing EPB with Rotary, shows: An effi- years at least seven 1 MWe CPG-PP’s will follow. Subsequent
cient electricity generation requires temperatures above 130 ºC, to the fifth plant onwards the required investment for each plant
thus, the heat deposits of interest are deeper than 5 000 m. Eco- amounts to 15 €M.. The production costs decrease to 3 €
nomically justifiable Rotary drilling ends in 5 000 m, when Cents/kWh, corresponding to less than 20% of the current retail
drilling costs get higher than 5 500 €/m. The shown telescoped market price, grid-costs included.
casing represents the situation of St. Gallen with even higher For a 9 km borehole with a diameter of 50 cm, which is ex-
costs, as explained earlier, in Sect. 1.4. pected to be economically feasible by EPB, the study of GE-
For Rotary the costs rise exponentially. For EPB the by OWATT AG (Schiegg, 2011) shows for a CPG-PP (9 km_Ø 50
44 Hans O. Schiegg, Arild Rødland, Guizhi Zhu and David A. Yuen

Figure 8. Comparison of penetration capacity of Rotary drilling versus EPB.

cm) a capacity of 1 MWelectric (MWe) and 8 MWthermic 4.3 Upgrading of Geothermal Power Plant
(MWth) over more than 20 years, see Sect. 1.3. Principally, a 1 MWe CPG-PP may be stepwise upgraded
The Swiss over-all energy consumption (for electricity, up to 28 MWe, by adding inclined boreholes, equipped with
heat, mobility, industry and all other use) amounts per year heat probes as heat exchanger, starting in 6 000 m and reaching
(a=8 760 h) to 250 TWh (e&th) (BFE, 2012). Consequently, down to 9 000 m depth (Fig. 9).
the averaged total energy consumption per capita equals to 250 However, without a capacity augmentation of EPB to the
TWh (e&th)/8 Mio. inhabitants/8 760 h=3.6 kW (e&th) per expected ROP (35 m/h), as described in Sect. 3.4, such upgrad-
capita. Hence, the above mentioned (9 km, Ø 50 cm)-Power- ing is hampered by the long drilling times.
Plant, providing 1 MWe+8 MWth=9 MWe&th, renders full en-
ergy supply for 2 500 inhabitants, at full cost accounting. As a 4.4 Worldwide Dissemination of Geothermal Power Plants
consequence, for 2 500 people for over 20 years no expenses The Pilot 1-MWe-CPG-PP already may cause a break-
(export of currency) accumulate anymore as for electricity, through of decentralized, autonomous mini-utilities (MW-
gasoline, heating oil, etc.. Conclusion: any community on the sized), worldwide, rolling up the current energy market, ruled
globe may economically install its own energy utility, provid- by centralized maxi-utilities (GW-sized). Successive 1-MWe-
ing ample energy (electricity and heat), fully independent, thus, CPG-PPs, costing 15 €M. each, will ubiquitously provide
with maximum supply security and at full cost accounting, en- autonomous supply with renewable and clean energy (power,
suring sustainability. heat, mobility).
Since such 1-MWe-CPG-PPs are realizable anywhere,

Figure 9. Upgrading of a 1 MWe CPG-PP to a 28 MWe CPG-PP.

Electro-Pulse-Boring (EPB): Novel Super-Deep Drilling Technology for Low Cost Electricity 45

they quickly will broaden and become a mega-market. The up 4.5 Cost Effectiveness of Research and Development (R &
to now monopolized GW-utilities will be replaced more and D) for the Various Primary Energies
more by decentralized Multi-MW-CPG-PP. Due to the inex- Each primary energy has its visionary “super solution”,
haustible geothermal energy supply, fossil primary energies mitigating (solving) the world’s energy problem, as: (a) sun de-
could be replaced within adequate time. Still adequate enough sertec (founded by Club of Rome); (b) wind floating plants of
to comply with IPCC’s (Stocker et al., 2013) postulate of a wind turbines, far off-shore; (c) water intercontinental shipping
climate change not exceeding the 2 ºC limit. A coping with of liquid hydrogen, produced by water power plants; (d) geo
such mitigation of the climate change, necessary for sustain- closed petro geothermics (5–10 km); (e) bio BioProFi, initia-
ability, becomes conceivable. tive of the German BMBF; (f) nuclear fusion.
“The world needs investments of US$ 48 trillions (1012) to The diagram (Fig. 10) shows along its horizontal axis the
meet its energy requirements until 2035” entitles OECD/IEA R & D costs for reaching industrialization stage for each super
(IEA, 2014) the press release of its recent “World Energy In- solution, as reported rough guess.
vestment Outlook”. In order to cope with the climate change The vertical axis lists the amount of energy (TWh/a) get-
within the 2 ºC limit even $53 trillions are needed. IEA warns ting exploitable per invested 1 €M.. According to the diagram
of severe energy shortages without annual investments of over the yield (return) per 1 €M., invested in R & D, is by orders
US$ 2 trillion. IEA points out the increasing governmental in- higher for geothermics than for the other primary energies.
fluence and recommends decentralized structures to avoid run- Nevertheless, to cope with the challenge of the energy transi-
ning into a deadlock. tion (exit of nuclear and fossil energies, due to the climate
Conclusion: closed petro-geothermal power plants (CPG- change) any option should be followed. The market will assist
PP) may become a substantial relief. itself to evaluate the best out of the good solutions.
TWh/a per € M. for R & D (assuming ∞ TWh as 10 6 TWh)

1 000 Gross energy consumption per year (a):

• Switzerland almost 280 TWh=1 Exa-Joule
• Germany roughly 2 800 TWh=10 Exa-Joule
100
Closed petro-geothermics (CPG)

• World about 140 000 TWh=500 Exa-Joule

100 times
10 less economic
than CPG
Off-shore, floating

1 000 times
1
less economic
than CPG
0.1 Fusion
BioProfit

Desertec

0.01
Nuclear
Water Bio Geo Wind Sun

100 1 000 10 000 100 000 1 000 000

Cost for R & D in €M. (as reported)

Figure 10. Energy (TWh/a) getting exploitable per € 1 Million, invested for R & D.

5 CONCLUSIONS borehole for costs of less than 1 €M.. By rotary the costs for
Electro-pulse-boring (EPB) is a novel, viable and powerful such a borehole exceed 100 €M., see Fig. 5, and the time will
technology for low-cost super-deep drilling between 5–10 km in be many months.
granite, as well as in the overlaying sediments. EPB is ready for The minimum outfit of a 9 km borehole provides (with its
the development to enter industrialization. The ambient tempera- 1 MWe and 8 MWth) a comprehensive energy supply for an
tures between 200–300 ºC enable an efficient generation of elec- agglomeration of 2 500 people at full cost account. Compre-
tricity, besides heat according to thermodynamics. hensive means for electricity, heat, mobility and including in-
Under the prevailing conditions, the rate of penetration dustry, whatever facilities and infrastructure. Full cost account
(ROP) is by all means comparable with Rotary drilling. How- means considering all economical, ecological and social as-
ever, by the planned increasing of the electrode gap from 10 to pects, which is a premise for sustainability. The maximum out-
15 cm, in granite the excavation mounts on 7 m3 per hour, ap- fit of a 9 km borehole renders (with its 28 MWe and 224 MWth)
plying a quite realistic frequency of 20 Hz. The extraordinary full energy supply for a town of 70 000 inhabitants.
ROP of up to 35 m/h for a Ø=50 cm borehole especially in gra- The ubiquity of deep geothermal heat guarantees ample
nite is the result. and autonomous production of energy (24 hours a day, 365
Consequence: 12 days (continuous drilling) for a 9 km days a year), thus, maximum energy supply security. As a con-
46 Hans O. Schiegg, Arild Rødland, Guizhi Zhu and David A. Yuen

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