MIT Spinoff Quaise Raises $134 Million to Commercialize Contactless Drilling for Deep Geothermal Power

Quaise Energy, a spinoff of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has raised 134 million US dollars in a Series B funding round to commercialize a contactless drilling system, the company announced on Tuesday.

The technology is intended for use at "Project Obsidian," a geothermal site where it would help access hot rock at depths of roughly 4.8 kilometers. According to the company, the drilling system is already in successful testing.

Quaise is advancing its geothermal project in the US state of Oregon. The planned power plant would tap rock formations roughly 300 degrees Celsius hot at depth, using the heat to warm circulating water and generate green energy from the resulting steam and hot water. In a first phase, the plant is meant to produce more than 50 megawatts, rising to 250 megawatts in a second phase.

Melting rock instead of grinding it

Reaching the necessary depths of around 5 kilometers requires drilling technology that avoids conventional drill bits, whose wear makes such depths economically unfeasible. Quaise's system instead uses millimeter-wave energy to melt and vaporize rock without direct contact.

The underlying research was developed over a decade at MIT before being turned into practical application by Quaise Energy. The company says the technology can be used worldwide to access deep rock formations with temperatures up to 500 degrees Celsius.

A test drill at a site in Texas has already been completed successfully to a depth of just under 0.6 miles, or about 1 kilometer, penetrating more than 100 meters of granite in the process. According to Quaise, this confirmed that the drilling technology works as intended.

The new capital will go toward further commercializing the contactless drilling technology for use worldwide, as well as funding test drilling at the Project Obsidian site — state geothermal leaseholds in the Deschutes National Forest in Oregon.

Quaise Energy had already raised venture capital before this round. With the latest financing, the company's total funding reaches 230 million dollars. Investors in the current round include Prelude Ventures, the Japanese energy companies Jera and Idemitsu, and Safar Partners. Quaise says it intends to raise additional funds through equity and debt financing.