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<\/p>\nAbout 13 miles up a winding national forest road near Three Rivers, Oregon, Alain Bonneville stands in the middle of a small clear-cut site called Pad 29. Bonneville is the chief geoscientist at Mazama Energy. It\u2019s a geothermal development company that\u2019s working on developing innovative techniques, approaches and methods to harvest heat from the ground.<\/p>\n
Pad 29 sits just above the clouds west of the Newberry Volcano, where it\u2019s surrounded by trees. Though small, it\u2019s a busy and noisy place where loud drills bore into the earth and workers drive huge trucks in and out of the area. There are also two huge water tanks at the site.<\/p>\n
But a tall blue cylinder connected to two deep wells billowing clouds of steam is the main attraction of Pad 29.<\/p>\n
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Aerial shot of Mazama Energy\u2019s Pad 29 on Sept. 9, 2025. The company and its partners are digging deep to harness heat from hot rocks in hopes to generate enough energy to someday power homes.<\/p>\n
Brooke Herbert \/ OPB<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we have done between these two wells, we have created an artificial reservoir where we will be injecting cold water and recovering steam, hot water \u2014 and the goal of this project is really to demonstrate that the techniques that we have been using were successful in creating this reservoir,\u201d Bonneville says.<\/p>\n
Mazama Energy, along with its partners, are trying to prove something that\u2019s never been done in this way before \u2014 harnessing heat two miles deep beneath the earth\u2019s surface<\/a> to generate enough electricity to power homes.<\/p>\n But the company is hoping to harness heat from a very particular and unconventional source \u2014 \u201cSUPER HOT ROCKS, YEAH!\u201d Bonneville says as he stands near the blue cylinder.<\/p>\n Super Hot Rocks is a type of enhanced geothermal system.<\/p>\n Mazama Energy has successfully proven it can harness heat from a shallow surface. The steam coming out of the blue cylinders indicates success. The next phase is to go deeper into the ground to harness that heat.<\/p>\n Bonneville hopes the company and its partners can use this pilot project to increase the use of geothermal as a renewable energy source in Oregon and beyond.<\/p>\n \u201cThis will be sort of a world premiere because nobody has done that so far,\u201d he says. \u201cThis is quite unique. So this is really a forefront development for cutting-edge research.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u2018world premiere\u2019 for Super Hot Rocks<\/p>\n Conventional geothermal has long been used in places where hot water or steam are found close to the earth\u2019s surface and have a natural flow circulating underground. Think of Yellowstone\u2019s Old Faithful or those natural hot springs found throughout Oregon\u2019s forests \u2014 they provide clues into what\u2019s happening underneath.<\/p>\n And because geothermal uses the earth\u2019s natural elements, it\u2019s also a continuous and reliable source of renewable energy. It does not depend on wind to blow a turbine or the sun to shine to produce electricity. It\u2019s considered a base-load energy source because it can run 24\/7.<\/p>\n The Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls has been using geothermal energy to heat buildings and sidewalks since the mid-1960s, with a system based around naturally occurring underground hot springs. In 2010, the school built Oregon\u2019s first geothermal power plant, and the university has since expanded it<\/a> to generate nearly 2 megawatts of power \u2014 saving the school about $1 million in heating costs a year<\/a>. <\/p>\n But conventional geothermal has its limits. It needs natural elements, like heat from a hot spring near the Earth\u2019s surface, for it to work. And because of that, only certain regions are able to use this type of energy resource. <\/p>\n Super Hot Rocks may change that, and the Cascade Range offers this kind of enhanced geothermal system a place where this new technology can thrive.<\/p>\n \u201cCentral Oregon is a good place for this kind of project,\u201d Bonneville said.<\/p>\n For the past 50 years, Newberry Volcano has been a hot spot for geothermal exploration. Universities, national laboratories and companies have studied, explored and drilled wells in the area to learn more about how geothermal works and figure out other ways heat can be harnessed.<\/p>\n Since the Newberry Volcano is active \u2014 it last erupted 1,300 years ago \u2014 there is a magma flow close to the surface, even if steam or geysers aren\u2019t visible.<\/p>\n Mazama Energy\u2019s wellhead that\u2019s connected to tubes going thousands of feet deep in the ground, seen on Sept. 9, 2025. The company hopes to tap into an uncommon energy source that could help Oregon and the rest of the region meet its renewable energy goals \u2014 Super Hot Rocks.<\/p>\n Monica Samayoa \/ OPB<\/p>\n That\u2019s where Super Hot Rocks comes in, as well as the unlikely help of the oil and gas industry\u2019s technology \u2014 drills.<\/p>\n Although it uses the same technology as the oil and gas industry, geothermal is different from fracking in key ways. To extract oil and gas, a company drills into the ground and injects water and chemicals into the earth to create new fractures that pull fossil fuels to the surface. In conventional geothermal, the drills are used to locate natural water flows underground, which transfer the heat back up. For enhanced geothermal systems like Super Hot Rocks, only water is injected to create pathways in the hot rocks to transfer heat back up to the surface.<\/p>\n At Newberry, Mazama Energy is drilling wells nearly two miles deep beneath the earth\u2019s surface and then injecting water into an engineered hot rock reservoir. <\/p>\n When the water gets that deep, it absorbs the Earth\u2019s natural heat and becomes extremely hot. <\/p>\n As it returns to the surface, it turns into steam and drives a turbine to generate electricity. <\/p>\n Then the steam is cooled, converted back into water, and reinjected into the reservoir, allowing the cycle to continue.<\/p>\n The goal is to not only harness the heat at these depths, but also ensure the system is reliable, efficient and economical.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you are able to collect this heat from Super Hot Rocks, you will be much more efficient in producing electricity,\u201d Bonneville said. \u201cEach well will produce six to eight times the amount of electricity than a conventional one.\u201d<\/p>\n A blue cylinder billows steam indicating success for Mazama Energy\u2019s pilot project on Super Hot Rocks on Sept. 9, 2025. <\/p>\n Monica Samayoa \/ OPB<\/p>\n That type of energy can help Oregon and the rest of the Pacific Northwest tap into a new renewable energy source at a time when the region needs to produce more energy.<\/p>\n Related: Higher prices, rolling blackouts: The Northwest is bracing for the effects of a lagging green energy push<\/a><\/p>\n Using Super Hot Rocks technology, the western flank of Newberry could produce up to 200 megawatts of electricity, according to Bonneville. That\u2019s enough electricity to power double the current residential population of Bend, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean that this is our goal, but this is the estimate we can produce here on this part of Central Oregon,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Drills, waves, rocks and brains<\/p>\n Partnerships are an important element of Mazama Energy\u2019s Super Hot Rocks pilot.<\/p>\n The project is currently funded through a $20 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, which has allowed the company to team with businesses, universities and federal research labs. Those include the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory<\/a>, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, as well as Oregon State University and the University of Oklahoma. Each entity provides the project with a special expertise or insight into how Super Hot Rocks technology might be successful.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have aligned research interests and we\u2019re really able to work together to help move this technology forward,\u201d PNNL geothermal portfolio manager Jana Simo said. \u201cOne of the things that we bring to this partnership is our expertise in geophysics, seismology and how you go to set up monitoring systems.\u201d<\/p>\n PNNL is also looking into induced seismicity to understand the difference between a natural earthquake and one generated by geothermal drilling, Simo said.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving all of us work together with our different resources is super valuable, and that\u2019s what makes these projects go,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s the skills and it is also the collaborative conversations and discussions that we have together as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Enegis, a consulting firm for energy and natural resource projects, is another partner.<\/p>\n Enegis\u2019s role is to find the best place to drill that makes Super Hot Rocks cost-effective, or to determine the cheapest way to do it.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re to drill the geothermal wells to cut down the cost and make geothermal a more viable type of technology for good energy,\u201d said Peter Malin, who is Enegis\u2019 chief scientist for the project and also a professor emeritus of seismology, geology and geothermal energy at Duke University\u2019s Nicholas School of the Environment.<\/p>\n To do this, Enegis uses a huge truck that vibrates the ground, sending earthquake-like waves, about a 2.0 on the Richter scale, over a span of 30 seconds. Unlike an actual earthquake, which sends sudden jolts, the truck vibrates the ground in waves. <\/p>\n In the surrounding area, there are more than 1,300 geophones, or sensors that detect ground vibrations, to pick up the wave signals.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s used like a fish finder or a focusing device for a camera that allows you to see the interior of the earth and focus on the geological properties so that we can find out where to drill,\u201d Malin said.<\/p>\n Enegis\u2019 chief scientist Peter Malin stands near a vibrating truck that sends earthquake-like waves to find natural fractures in the ground. Enegis is a consulting firm for energy and natural resource projects. The technology the company is developing could make drilling geothermal wells cheaper. Photo taken on Sept. 9, 2025.<\/p>\n Monica Samayoa \/ OPB<\/p>\n This then helps Mazama Energy locate the best places to drill and, in turn, helps reduce the primary cost of geothermal energy \u2014 locating and drilling. <\/p>\n \u201cWe look forward to developing this technology for the benefit of all in terms of inexpensive energy and adoption of technology that has been developed over the last hundred years in oil and gas, but that can have significant parts transferred over to geothermal,\u201d Malin said.<\/p>\n Super Hot Rocks proponents say this work could bring big changes for Oregon and the rest of the Pacific Northwest by diversifying renewable energy sources at a time when the region works to wean off fossil fuels like oil and natural gas to meet greenhouse gas reduction goals.<\/p>\n Geothermal\u2019s potential in Oregon<\/p>\n As more people switch from gas to electric appliances in their homes and more power-hungry data centers connect to the power grid, the state needs to add more renewable energy to meet demands. Oregon is already behind on its renewable energy goals<\/a>, and adding new sources to the grid could take years. The state has mandated utilities to fully eliminate greenhouse gas emissions associated with the electricity they provide by 2040. <\/p>\n President Donald Trump, however, has advanced policies that are often counter to Oregon\u2019s renewable goals. The administration\u2019s attacks on wind and solar production are making it harder to add these renewable energy resources to the grid. Trump is also rescinding billions of federal dollars previously allocated toward climate action, including funds that would have supported solar development in Oregon.<\/p>\n But the development of geothermal as a renewable energy source is something his administration does support<\/a>, and it has provided millions in funding.<\/p>\n![\"Mazama](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2A5GDFGOS5FGTKKP7TIVFB2VOE.jpg\")
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