Unlocking the Impermeable Reservoir: Lessons from a 30-Year Reservoir Engineer An Alphaxioms interview with Richard Joseph Holt, Principal Consultant in Reservoir Engineering at RESPEC . Context: Menengai East and Olkaria Central. Every geothermal developer knows the moment. The rig is gone and the money is spent. The well is drilled to depth, the temperature is there, and then the well will not flow. The heat is real, but the connection between the well and the reservoir is not. Wells like this sit at the centre of one of the most important questions in geothermal development: what do you do with a tight reservoir? Walk away and drill again, or find a way to unlock what is already there? To explore the question, Alphaxioms spoke with Richard Joseph Holt, Principal Consultant in Reservoir Engineering at RESPEC . Richard brings 30 years of global experience in geothermal energy. We framed our questions around two settings, Menengai East and Olkaria Central, and asked him how ...
El Salvador Mines 474 Bitcoin Worth $29 Million with Volcano-Fueled Geothermal Power By: Robert Buluma El Salvador is revolutionizing cryptocurrency mining by harnessing the natural power of its volcanoes. Since 2021, the Central American nation has mined an impressive 474 Bitcoins using geothermal energy derived from the Tecapa volcano, valued at approximately $29 million at current Bitcoin prices. A Renewable Energy-Powered Breakthrough This groundbreaking initiative is part of El Salvador’s larger strategy to merge cryptocurrency with renewable energy. Geothermal energy, which accounts for 25% of the country's electricity production, plays a crucial role in powering these operations. The state-owned geothermal company, LaGeo, operates two major plants that generate a combined 204 megawatts of power. From this capacity, 1.5 megawatts are used to sustain the mining of Bitcoin, a process often criticized globally for its energy consumption and environmental...