geothermal energy innovation – Science

University of Oklahoma Researchers Chosen for Department of Energy’s Genesis Mission

Bethany Barker — Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:23:26 +0000

The University of Oklahoma has emerged as a major participant in the U.S. Department of Energy’s ambitious Genesis Mission, a national effort to accelerate scientific discovery by combining artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, quantum technologies and experimental research. Two OU-led teams have received nearly $1.4 million in Phase I funding, while a third OU researcher is contributing to a project led by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The awards place the university among only 168 institutions selected from more than 5,000 applications submitted by more than 800 organizations across the United States. The projects span enhanced geothermal energy, quantum computing and Earth-system prediction—three fields in which AI could transform how scientists design experiments, operate complex systems and interpret enormous quantities of data.

The Genesis Mission was created through Executive Order 14363 in November 2025 with the goal of doubling American scientific productivity within a decade. Its proposed infrastructure links the Department of Energy’s 17 national laboratories with some of the nation’s most powerful supercomputers, advanced AI models, quantum platforms and experimental facilities. The first funding round totals $293 million and represents the initial commitment toward an estimated $5 billion investment. Rather than treating artificial intelligence as a stand-alone computational tool, the initiative is designed to place AI inside scientific workflows, where algorithms can help formulate hypotheses, control experiments, identify physical patterns and optimize technologies that are too complex to manage through conventional methods.

One of the OU-led projects is focused on enhanced geothermal systems, a technology that could substantially expand access to reliable, low-carbon electricity. Ahmad Ghassemi, a McCasland Chair Professor of petroleum engineering in OU’s Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy, will lead the project “AI-Enabled Rapid Analysis and Control of EGS Stimulation Using Machine Learning & Physics-Based Hydraulic Fracture/Natural Fracture Interaction Modeling.” Jie Cao of OU’s School of Computer Science and Hao Hu of the School of Geosciences will support the effort. The project has received $734,129 in Phase I funding and is aimed at improving the way engineers create underground heat reservoirs by combining machine learning with detailed models of rock deformation and fracture behavior.

Enhanced geothermal systems are designed to extract heat from hot rock formations that do not naturally contain enough permeability for fluid circulation. Engineers inject fluid deep underground to open or reactivate fractures, creating pathways through which water can move, absorb heat and return to the surface. The process is difficult to control because the subsurface is heterogeneous: rock layers vary in strength, existing fractures can redirect fluid, and small changes in pressure may produce unexpected fracture networks. Ghassemi’s team will use AI to interpret data generated during stimulation while physics-based hydraulic-fracture and natural-fracture models constrain the algorithms. This hybrid approach could allow operators to distinguish useful permeability from unwanted fluid leakage and adjust injection strategies in near real time. The Department of Energy estimates that enhanced geothermal systems could eventually provide approximately 90 gigawatts of capacity nationwide.

“Plentiful energy can become available from enhanced geothermal systems,” Ghassemi said. “The key is fracturing rocks at great depths to create permeability, which experience has shown to be a challenging, complex process.” By integrating geomechanics, fracture mechanics and machine learning, the project seeks to turn underground reservoir creation from a largely empirical procedure into a more predictable and controllable engineering discipline. If successful, the system could help reduce drilling risk, improve the longevity of geothermal wells and make it possible to develop resources in regions previously considered unsuitable for conventional geothermal power. Because geothermal plants can operate continuously, unlike intermittent wind and solar facilities, improved subsurface control could also strengthen the reliability of future energy networks.

The second OU-led award is directed toward quantum computing. Grant Biedermann, Homer L. Dodge Endowed Chair and associate professor of physics in OU’s Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences, will lead “AI-Driven Control and Optimization of QuDit Platforms in Rydberg Arrays.” The project has been awarded $651,891. It will investigate how artificial intelligence can control arrays of individually trapped atoms, each of which can serve as a quantum information element with more than two accessible states. These systems are known as qudits, in contrast to conventional qubits, which encode information using two states. A qudit can potentially store more information per physical element, although controlling its many energy levels introduces additional technical challenges.

The platform uses Rydberg atoms, whose outermost electrons are excited to very high-energy states. In this condition, atoms become extremely sensitive to one another over comparatively long distances, allowing researchers to engineer interactions that can implement quantum logic. Optical tweezers—tightly focused laser beams—hold individual atoms in precisely arranged arrays. Yet the same sensitivity that makes Rydberg systems powerful also makes them difficult to operate. Laser intensity fluctuations, atom loss, imperfect positioning, unwanted interactions and decoherence can all degrade performance. Biedermann’s team plans to use AI as a real-time control layer that can learn from measurements, predict system behavior and optimize experimental parameters faster than a human operator or a fixed control sequence.

The work connects to the Genesis Mission challenge “Discovering Quantum Algorithms with AI” and brings together researchers from OU, Oklahoma State University and Los Alamos National Laboratory. Biedermann said the collaboration includes Los Alamos scientists Martin, Zlotnik and Meier, as well as Bilitewski of Oklahoma State University, whose research focuses on atom-based qudit simulation. The broader objective is not simply to make quantum hardware run more efficiently, but to create a feedback loop between algorithms and physical devices. AI could search for quantum operations suited to the specific imperfections of an experimental platform, while the hardware could provide data that guides the design of new algorithms. Such adaptive control may become essential as quantum processors grow in size and complexity.

A third OU scientist, Xuguang Wang, Robert Lowery Chair Professor and Presidential Research Professor in the School of Meteorology, is participating in a project led by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The project, “Scalable Twin for Intelligent Turbulence and Cloud Heuristics,” or STITCH, will use AI to model turbulence and clouds for Earth-system prediction. Turbulence occurs across a vast range of scales, from microscopic eddies to atmospheric systems spanning kilometers, while clouds form, evolve and dissipate through tightly coupled interactions involving moisture, radiation, temperature and airflow. Because numerical weather and climate models cannot resolve every relevant process directly, they rely on parameterizations—approximations that represent unresolved physics. STITCH aims to develop more intelligent and scalable methods for these difficult calculations.

The project addresses the Genesis Mission challenge “Predicting U.S. Water for Energy,” an issue with direct consequences for the national power system. Water availability influences hydropower production and affects the cooling systems used by thermal and nuclear power plants. More accurate predictions of clouds, precipitation and atmospheric turbulence could help energy operators plan for changing water supplies, extreme weather and regional demand. The combined OU projects illustrate how the Genesis Mission is connecting disciplines that are often treated separately: petroleum engineering with computer science, atomic physics with machine learning, and meteorology with energy planning. OU Vice President for Research and Partnerships Matt Hulver said the university’s researchers were selected because of the strength and relevance of their work, emphasizing that energy dominance, discovery science and national security are deeply interconnected.

Together, the projects represent a shift toward AI-augmented science in which algorithms do more than analyze completed experiments. In geothermal engineering, machine learning may help steer physical processes kilometers beneath the surface. In quantum computing, it may continuously tune lasers and atomic interactions while a processor operates. In atmospheric science, it may learn improved representations of physical processes that conventional models cannot fully resolve. The central challenge will be ensuring that AI systems remain scientifically reliable, interpretable and stable when confronted with conditions outside their training data. By combining data-driven methods with physical laws, laboratory measurements and high-performance computing, the OU teams hope to build systems that are not only faster, but also capable of producing discoveries and technologies that can be tested in the real world.

Subject of Research: Artificial intelligence applications in enhanced geothermal systems, quantum computing with Rydberg atom qudit arrays, and AI-based turbulence and cloud modeling for Earth-system prediction.

Article Title: University of Oklahoma Teams Bring AI to Geothermal Energy, Quantum Computing and Climate Prediction

Web References: https://www.ou.edu/mcee/mpge/people/faculty/ahmad-ghassemi ; https://www.ou.edu/cas/physics-astronomy/people/directory/faculty/grant-biedermann ; https://www.ou.edu/ags/meteorology/people/faculty/xuguang-wang ; https://www.energy.gov/undersecretaryforscience/genesis-mission/genesis-mission ; https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2026-07/GM-RFA-Awards-List.pdf

References: University of Oklahoma; U.S. Department of Energy Genesis Mission; Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Image Credits: Travis Caperton/University of Oklahoma

Keywords

Artificial intelligence, Genesis Mission, University of Oklahoma, enhanced geothermal systems, geothermal energy, quantum computing, Rydberg atoms, qudits, machine learning, turbulence modeling, cloud prediction, Earth-system science, Department of Energy, discovery science, energy technology

Major Demonstration Advances Quaise Energy’s Mission to Power the World with Clean, Renewable Geothermal Energy

Bethany Barker — Tue, 03 Jun 2025 16:13:48 +0000

In a landmark achievement for geothermal energy, Quaise Energy has transitioned from laboratory experiments to real-world application by successfully demonstrating its groundbreaking drilling technology on a full-scale oil rig just outside Houston, Texas. Founded only seven years ago, the company is on a mission to tap into the earth’s nearly inexhaustible store of geothermal heat, a resource that experts believe could eclipse all other energy sources combined. Carlos Araque, CEO and co-founder of Quaise, emphasized the magnitude of this untapped power, stating that the thermal energy stored beneath the Earth’s crust surpasses the combined potential of all fossil fuels, nuclear power, and other renewable energy forms manyfold. His vision points to an era where clean energy is derived from depths between two and twelve miles underground, effectively unlocking a truly global and sustainable power source.

The most promising geothermal resource lies in what is known as the supercritical zone, found deep beneath the surface where extreme temperatures and pressures transform water into a supercritical fluid—a state distinct from familiar liquid water, steam, or ice. Supercritical water possesses unique physical properties that allow it to carry five to ten times more energy than conventional geothermal steam, making it an extraordinarily efficient medium for heat transfer and power generation. However, accessing this zone has long eluded engineers, as traditional drilling technologies prove inadequate beyond a few miles due to the intense heat and pressure conditions that degrade drill bits rapidly and exponentially increase operational costs.

Quaise Energy’s solution leverages millimeter-wave energy, a sophisticated form of electromagnetic radiation akin to the microwaves used in household appliances but operating at much higher frequencies. Rather than mechanically grinding and breaking rock, Quaise’s approach involves directing focused millimeter waves to literally melt and vaporize the granite and basalt that compose the hard rock layers deep underground. This thermal ablation technique not only circumvents the mechanical wear problems associated with conventional drills but also enables the creation of deeper and wider boreholes more efficiently. The innovation stems from foundational work at MIT, where scientists demonstrated that gyrotrons—high-powered millimeter-wave generators originally developed for nuclear fusion research—could successfully drill into hard rock like basalt, setting the stage for industrial-scale applications.

The recent demonstration held at the Nabors-operated oil rig showcased the integration of Quaise’s millimeter-wave drill with conventional rig infrastructure. Engineers created an artificial granite core approximately 80 feet long inside a metal casing embedded with sensors to monitor temperature, pressure, and other key parameters. During the event, the team succeeded in extending an existing 10-foot, four-inch diameter hole within this granite core to a new depth of 30 feet, marking a significant milestone in the scalable implementation of this technology. The demonstration utilized a gyrotron capable of producing 100 kilowatts, roughly one-tenth of the power needed for commercial operations, but serving as a crucial proof-of-concept for the technology’s viability under operational conditions.

Looking ahead, Quaise plans to further escalate power delivery with the imminent arrival of a one-megawatt gyrotron, representing a leap into true commercial relevance. This advancement will facilitate deeper drilling and significantly higher throughput, bringing the company closer to realizing its goal of economically viable superdeep geothermal energy production. Concurrently, preparations are underway for a subsequent demonstration in Marble Falls, Texas, where the team aims to drill into actual granite rock formations up to 130 meters (approximately 425 feet) deep. This site, equipped with a smaller and more mobile rig, will enable rapid transitions between boreholes, thereby accelerating data collection and refining drilling protocols.

Beyond advancements in drilling technology, Quaise is addressing the complex challenges associated with harnessing the extreme heat and pressure conditions characteristic of superdeep geothermal environments. Collaborations with academic institutions and industry partners have yielded valuable insights into thermal rock-water interactions, phase transitions within supercritical fluids, and the design requirements for resilient materials and power plant configurations capable of withstanding these harsh environments. Notably, research supported by Quaise at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne recently validated models for heat transfer in supercritical zones, findings published in the journal Nature Communications.

Complementing these scientific advances, the company’s internal engineering teams are developing next-generation geothermal power plants optimized for superhot rock formations. Detailed studies have informed design innovations aimed at maximizing heat extraction efficiency and plant longevity under severe operating conditions. These efforts build on the expertise of a multidisciplinary team with backgrounds in oil and gas, nuclear fission, and nuclear fusion industries, all contributing to the robust maturation of this revolutionary energy sector.

Quaise’s strategy for commercialization involves a tiered approach to site development based on geological and geothermal characteristics worldwide. Tier 1 sites represent the “low-hanging fruit,” where traditionally accessible superhot rock can be tapped with existing technology and infrastructure. These initial deployments are expected to occur in geothermally active regions such as the American West, with early projects likely near the Newberry Volcano in Oregon, a focal point for geothermal research and development. Tier 3 sites, representing the true frontier, will involve drilling as deep as 12 miles to access supercritical zones globally, potentially supplying clean power to over 90% of humanity.

The team’s confidence stems not only from technological innovation but also from its provenance. Many scientists and engineers at Quaise have track records of invention and patents, including contributions to advanced oil and gas reservoir management solutions such as Schlumberger’s Manara technology. This collective experience underpins a pragmatic yet ambitious pathway toward establishing superdeep, superhot geothermal energy as a cost-competitive and scalable alternative to fossil fuels and other energy sources.

Ultimately, Quaise Energy’s milestone demonstration symbolizes a bold step toward redefining the global energy landscape. By harnessing millimeter-wave drilling technology developed over decades of fundamental research and integrating it into existing drilling infrastructure, the company is charting a route to limitless, carbon-free power extracted from the Earth’s hidden heat reservoirs. As the world grapples with the imperatives of climate change and energy security, innovations like those from Quaise offer a tantalizing glimpse into a future where geothermal energy fulfills its long-held promise as a cornerstone of sustainable energy systems.

Subject of Research: Development and demonstration of millimeter-wave drilling technology for accessing supercritical geothermal resources deep beneath the Earth’s surface.

Article Title: Quaise Energy’s Breakthrough in Millimeter-Wave Drilling Marks a New Era for Superdeep Geothermal Power

News Publication Date: May 22, 2024

Web References:
https://www.quaise.energy/
https://news.mit.edu/2022/quaise-energy-geothermal-0628
https://www.nabors.com/our-company/
https://www.energy.gov/eere/geothermal/geothermal-technologies-office
https://www.epfl.ch/en/
https://www.quaise.energy/news/deep-geothermal-energy-lifes-origin-future
https://www.quaise.energy/news/mining-the-heat-below-our-feet-could-unlock-clean-energy-for-the-world
https://www.quaise.energy/news/from-lab-to-field-testing
https://www.quaise.energy/news/millimeter-wave-drilling-the-key-to-clean-energy-abundance
https://www.quaise.energy/news/international-multidisciplinary-collaborations-key-to-bringing-superhot-clean-geothermal-energy-to-the-world-2
https://www.quaise.energy/news/lab-data-confirm-potential-of-geothermals-holy-grail-superdeep-superhot-rock-as-important-renewable-energy-source
https://www.quaise.energy/news/quaise-energy-reports-new-insights-into-designing-superhot-geothermal-plants
https://events.offsnet.com/GTSNA2025-GeothermalandOilGasConference-HoustonUS

References:
Cladouhos, T., et al. (2023). "Thermal dynamics of supercritical geothermal reservoirs." Nature Communications.
MIT Energy Initiative. (2022). "Millimeter-wave drilling for superdeep geothermal energy."

Image Credits: Quaise Energy

Keywords

Supercritical geothermal energy, millimeter-wave drilling, gyrotron technology, superdeep drilling, renewable energy innovation, geothermal power plant design, thermal rock ablation, advanced drilling techniques, clean energy technology, superhot rock extraction, energy transition, geothermal resource development