Close Menu
TechBrunchTechBrunch
  • Home
  • AI
  • Apps
  • Crypto
  • Security
  • Startups
  • TechCrunch
  • Venture

Subscribe to Updates

Subscribe to our newsletter and never miss our latest news

Subscribe my Newsletter for New Posts & tips Let's stay updated!

What's Hot

Jon McNeill brings the operator playbook to every stage

July 1, 2025

Ice Block is an app for anonymously reporting ice sightings and becomes a virus overnight after Bondi criticism

July 1, 2025

Figma approaches a smash hit IPO that can raise $1.5 billion

July 1, 2025
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
TechBrunchTechBrunch
  • Home
  • AI

    OpenAI seeks to extend human lifespans with the help of longevity startups

    January 17, 2025

    Farewell to the $200 million woolly mammoth and TikTok

    January 17, 2025

    Nord Security founder launches Nexos.ai to help enterprises move AI projects from pilot to production

    January 17, 2025

    Data proves it remains difficult for startups to raise capital, even though VCs invested $75 billion in the fourth quarter

    January 16, 2025

    Apple suspends AI notification summaries for news after generating false alerts

    January 16, 2025
  • Apps

    The best iPad apps to increase productivity and make your life easier

    July 1, 2025

    When the app moves further away from Instagram, the thread launches its own DM inbox

    July 1, 2025

    When the app distances from Instagram, the thread gets its own DM

    July 1, 2025

    Grammarly gets AI email client superhuman

    July 1, 2025

    Meta adds business voice calls to WhatsApp and explores recommendations for AI-powered products

    July 1, 2025
  • Crypto

    Vitalik Buterin reserves for Sam Altman's global project

    June 28, 2025

    Calci will close a $185 million round as rival Polymeruk reportedly seeks $200 million

    June 25, 2025

    Stablecoin Evangelist: Katie Haun's Battle of Digital Dollars

    June 22, 2025

    Hackers steal and destroy millions of Iran's biggest crypto exchanges

    June 18, 2025

    Unique, a new social media app

    June 17, 2025
  • Security

    Ice Block is an app for anonymously reporting ice sightings and becomes a virus overnight after Bondi criticism

    July 1, 2025

    US government overthrows North Korea's major “workers” management

    June 30, 2025

    Mexican drug cartel hackers spy on FBI officials' phones to track and kill informants, the report says

    June 30, 2025

    FBI, cybersecurity firms say prolific hacking crews are currently targeting airlines and transportation sectors

    June 28, 2025

    Prolific cybercrime gangs currently targeting the airline and transportation sector

    June 27, 2025
  • Startups

    7 days left: Founders and VCs save over $300 on all stage passes

    March 24, 2025

    AI chip startup Furiosaai reportedly rejecting $800 million acquisition offer from Meta

    March 24, 2025

    20 Hottest Open Source Startups of 2024

    March 22, 2025

    Andrill may build a weapons factory in the UK

    March 21, 2025

    Startup Weekly: Wiz bets paid off at M&A Rich Week

    March 21, 2025
  • TechCrunch

    OpenSea takes a long-term view with a focus on UX despite NFT sales remaining low

    February 8, 2024

    AI will save software companies' growth dreams

    February 8, 2024

    B2B and B2C are not about who buys, but how you sell

    February 5, 2024

    It's time for venture capital to break away from fast fashion

    February 3, 2024

    a16z's Chris Dixon believes it's time to focus on blockchain use cases rather than speculation

    February 2, 2024
  • Venture

    Jon McNeill brings the operator playbook to every stage

    July 1, 2025

    Figma approaches a smash hit IPO that can raise $1.5 billion

    July 1, 2025

    Catalio Capital closes fund IV over $400 million

    July 1, 2025

    Kleida Martiro leads the conversation on AI scale at TC All Stage

    July 1, 2025

    Kathy Gao brings a real playbook to every stage

    July 1, 2025
TechBrunchTechBrunch

Sage Geosystems wants to solve the data center energy crisis by storing pressurized water deep underground.

TechBrunchBy TechBrunchAugust 13, 20245 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Telegram LinkedIn Tumblr WhatsApp Email
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Telegram Email


Cindy Taff was standing on flat ground in Starr County, Texas, when she felt an earthquake in early 2022. “The ground was literally vibrating,” she told TechCrunch. “That was an 'aha moment' for me.”

Her startup, Sage Geosystems, has been testing equipment it uses to extract heat from deep underground. The team has pumped water into wells and is now releasing it. The result is a gush of hot, clean water that could replace natural gas as a reliable source of power around the world, rather than oil.

People have long been harnessing heat from deep within the earth, and so has Sage Geosystems. But the company also proposes using thousands of feet of wells as batteries, storing pressurized water to generate electricity later. The company has been testing the idea in Starr County for more than a year. On Tuesday, Sage Geosystems announced it is building its first commercial-scale facility outside San Antonio.

The new project will occupy most of a 10-acre site adjacent to a coal-fired power plant owned by San Miguel Electric Cooperative Inc. Sage plans to drill wells there and store electricity from small solar panels that will be used to continuously power a small data center, Taff said, calling the facility a “model house for larger data centers.”

The system, which the company calls a geopressured geothermal system, is rated to produce 3 megawatts of electricity, enough for more than 600 homes, at about 10 cents per kilowatt-hour.

Taff said Sage plans to begin drilling in mid-September and have the plant operational in December.

Taff and his colleagues came to Sage after long careers in the oil and gas industry: Taff, the company's CEO, spent decades at Shell, eventually becoming vice president of land drilling, while others had similarly long careers at Shell, Exxon and other companies.

“We wanted to get into renewable energy,” Taff says, but the shift wasn't obvious. Renewables is dominated by wind and solar, which doesn't overlap much with their skill set, which is understanding what's deep in the earth and drilling to get to it. “But when we thought about geology — energy storage and geothermal — it was a perfect fit.”

Like other geothermal startups, Sage Geosystems started with a plan to lower electricity bills. One of the big costs geothermal power producers face is injecting water into the ground. Sure, they could let the water drip through pipes and soak into the surrounding rock, but that would take a lot of time. Instead, they inject the water under pressure, which requires energy.

When the company began work on the test well, Taff and his colleagues realized they could capture some of the energy by passing pressurized water through a turbine.

“It basically inflates the cracks and stores the water under pressure,” Taff says, “and then when it needs to, it basically opens a valve on the surface, and the cracks try to close, releasing the water.”

The similarities between geothermal and oil and gas start to fade. To frack an oil and gas well, companies need to inject water and a grist (called a proppant) to crack the rock and keep it open so the fossil fuel can flow back into the well. Much of the water used to drill is lost, and often brine comes out along with the oil and gas. So not only does fracking require a lot of water, it also produces a lot of wastewater.

Sage, meanwhile, aims to minimize water loss. Most of the loss happens at the surface, when water evaporates from the reservoir. Some remains when the water is pumped from the reservoir to the well. Over time, Taff says, the rocks around the well become saturated, forming a barrier that slows the loss. When the test well first opened, about 2% was lost to leakage and evaporation per injection-withdrawal cycle. After a little over a month, that loss was down to about 1% per cycle.

Once Sage proves its technology with the first well, the company could add 10 more wells, bringing the site's capacity up to 50MW, Taff said. SMECI, the electric cooperative that owns the land, plans to shut down the site's coal-fired power plant in 2026 and replace it with solar panels. To provide a steady supply of power like a coal-fired plant would provide, the company is considering pairing those panels with some form of energy storage. Overall, the company expects to be able to recover at least 70% of the electricity it uses to inject the water.

“They want a front-row seat to what we're doing,” Taff said. “This is energy storage, not geothermal, but this will allow us to prove out about 80 percent of our technology.”

Beyond SMECI, Sage is also working with major technology companies to develop geothermal energy storage projects for data centers. Grid-scale batteries have garnered a lot of attention, but are too expensive to run solar-powered data centers overnight.

“We're not trying to compete with lithium-ion batteries on two- to three-hour duration because we'd lose on cost, but if we have to stack lithium-ion batteries, we can win on cost,” Taff said.



Source link

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

Related Posts

7 days left: Founders and VCs save over $300 on all stage passes

March 24, 2025

AI chip startup Furiosaai reportedly rejecting $800 million acquisition offer from Meta

March 24, 2025

20 Hottest Open Source Startups of 2024

March 22, 2025

Andrill may build a weapons factory in the UK

March 21, 2025

Startup Weekly: Wiz bets paid off at M&A Rich Week

March 21, 2025

Wayve CEO shares his key elements for scaling autonomous driving technology

March 21, 2025

Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

Top Reviews
Editors Picks

7 days left: Founders and VCs save over $300 on all stage passes

March 24, 2025

AI chip startup Furiosaai reportedly rejecting $800 million acquisition offer from Meta

March 24, 2025

20 Hottest Open Source Startups of 2024

March 22, 2025

Andrill may build a weapons factory in the UK

March 21, 2025
About Us
About Us

Welcome to Tech Brunch, your go-to destination for cutting-edge insights, news, and analysis in the fields of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cryptocurrency, Technology, and Startups. At Tech Brunch, we are passionate about exploring the latest trends, innovations, and developments shaping the future of these dynamic industries.

Our Picks

Jon McNeill brings the operator playbook to every stage

July 1, 2025

Ice Block is an app for anonymously reporting ice sightings and becomes a virus overnight after Bondi criticism

July 1, 2025

Figma approaches a smash hit IPO that can raise $1.5 billion

July 1, 2025

Subscribe to Updates

Subscribe to our newsletter and never miss our latest news

Subscribe my Newsletter for New Posts & tips Let's stay updated!

© 2025 TechBrunch. Designed by TechBrunch.
  • Home
  • About Tech Brunch
  • Advertise with Tech Brunch
  • Contact us
  • DMCA Notice
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.