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 ...
Beyond Steam: Why Kaishan Group’s EGS Bet in Nevada Could Redefine Geothermal Energy By Robert Buluma For decades, geothermal energy has occupied a frustrating niche in the renewable energy hierarchy. It is celebrated for its superpower—a capacity factor that rivals nuclear power, producing electricity 24/7 regardless of weather. Yet, it has remained geographically tethered to rare, naturally occurring pockets of underground water, steam, and permeable rock. Only places like Iceland, parts of California, and New Zealand have been able to tap it at scale. That limitation may be about to shrink dramatically. This morning, Kaishan Group (300257.SZ), a Chinese manufacturer-turned-geothermal-operator, announced that its U.S. subsidiary, Open Mountain Energy, LLC (OME), has signed a development agreement with Power Planet, Inc. to validate and commercialize Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) technology at its existing Star Peak geothermal project in Pershing County, Nevada. The announce...