{"id":1436,"date":"2025-09-04T14:11:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T14:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/1436\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T14:11:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T14:11:08","slug":"supercritical-geothermal-research-receives-10-million-from-new-zealand-endeavor-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/1436\/","title":{"rendered":"Supercritical geothermal research receives $10 million from New Zealand Endeavor Fund"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Supercritical
\n Craters of the Moon, Taupo, New Zealand (source: Thajsko<\/a>, CC BY 3.0<\/a>, via Wikimedia Commons)<\/p>\n

The “DeepHeat” project which aims to characterize superhot geothermal resources in New Zealand has received further $10.69 million from the Endeavor Fund.<\/p>\n

The \u201cDeepHeat\u201d research programme, which seeks to investigate superhot geothermal resources in New Zealand, will receive $10.69 million from the 2025 Endeavor Fund. The project is one of 19 programmes that were selected for the funding, which seeks to support science-based projects to strengthen the economy and deliver benefits to New Zealanders.<\/p>\n

The \u201cDeepHeat\u201d programme is led by Earth Sciences New Zealand<\/a> (formerly GNS Science & National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research) with a team that brings together experts from Victoria University Wellington and the University of Auckland. The programme\u00a0will\u00a0work alongside\u00a0a wider\u00a0network of\u00a0scientists, engineers, AI experts, and M?ori advisors,\u00a0as well as\u00a0international\u00a0partners\u00a0from\u00a0the USA,\u00a0Switzerland,\u00a0Japan, and Iceland.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The research seeks to investigate how superhot fluids move at depth, specifically within the Central Taupo Volcanic Zone. Tapping into these superhot reservoirs can potentially unlock around 30,000 GWh of continuous renewable power each year. Realising this potential requires new knowledge at the frontier of science and engineering. Thus, part of the objectives of the programme are developing AI-driven reservoir models, conducting fracture network experiments, and assessing wellbore performance.<\/p>\n

The programme also aims to advance stimulation and well-integration technologies, evaluate energy and economic scenarios, establish environmental monitoring frameworks, and co-design Maori-led business models to ensure long-term sustainable benefits.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs New Zealand\u2019s electricity demand continues to grow, so will our dependence on new energy sources. Geothermal fields aren\u2019t impacted by the weather like other renewable energy sources such as hydro, solar, and wind, representing an important opportunity for our energy security,\u201d said \u00a0Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Dr Shane Reti.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis programme is part of more than $183 million in funding we\u2019re investing in projects that have the potential to shape New Zealand\u2019s future \u2013 from space technologies to healthcare, artificial intelligence, and clean energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese outputs\u00a0are\u00a0parallel\u00a0to the<\/a>\u00a0government\u2019s $60 million drilling programme<\/a>\u00a0and the renaissance of geothermal exploration in New Zealand.\u00a0\u00a0They\u00a0strengthen\u00a0our\u00a0chance to achieve\u00a0a\u00a0fast\u00a0global\u00a0development of superhot\u00a0geothermal, setting New Zealand as\u00a0the\u00a0ideal\u00a0international test bed location,\u201d added Co-Lead Scientist Isabelle Chambefort.<\/p>\n

Source: Earth Sciences NZ<\/a> and Beehive.govt.nz<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Craters of the Moon, Taupo, New Zealand (source: Thajsko, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons) The “DeepHeat” project…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1437,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2346,2348,2353,2351,2345,2354,738,2355,2347,111,43,139,69,1518,2350,2349,2352],"class_list":["post-1436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-award","tag-deepheat","tag-drilling","tag-earth-sciences-new-zealand","tag-endeavor-fund","tag-exploration","tag-funding","tag-geothermal","tag-grant","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-research","tag-supercritical-gns-science","tag-superhot","tag-taupo-volcanic-zone"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}