VentureWell’s Post

Big news for the #geologichydrogen industry as Forbes introduces Koloma, a pioneering explorer, leading the way in natural hydrogen in Mid-West, USA, backed by Bill Gates-led Breakthrough Energy "Denver-based Koloma has quietly raised US$91 million to drill for carbon-free hydrogen that’s continuously generated underground. If it succeeds, it could turbocharge the clean energy revolution — and potentially tap a $1 trillion market" "Like oil wildcatters anticipating a gusher, Koloma doesn’t want competitors to know where it’s looking and drilling. Its founders will only say their first wells are in the U.S. Midwest and may explore international opportunities over time. Natural Hydrogen Energy and HyTerra, two smaller Koloma rivals, are readying their own test wells in Nebraska and Kansas along the 1,200-mile Midcontinent Rift System" A great read by Alan Ohnsman following his first article on geologic hydrogen last month https://shorturl.at/prwU9 which also features HyTerra. #naturalhydrogen #cleanenergy #climatetech #innovation #H2

I'm getting tagged to posts and sent private messages several times per day about "natural hydrogen", i.e. the notion that you can drill a hole in the ground and have substantially pure hydrogen come out of it in quantities which are of commercially viable use. There is exactly one well on earth, in Mali, which currently produces a hydrogen stream which is fairly substantially pure, rather than a methane or CO2 stream containing some hydrogen. The notion that we've drilled millions of wells for water, oil, gas, geothermal and the like, and managed through extremely bad luck to drill every single one of them in the wrong place to collect substantially pure hydrogen, is a bit far fetched from my perspective. While I HOPE we find LOTS of "natural" hydrogen, I also hope that it's not a greenwash, i.e. an excuse to produce a fossil gas stream which contains SOME hydrogen. I also do not think that hope alone is a good strategy.

Clean energy

In the future, we will drill the earth in search of hydrogen in the same way that we are now extracting oil and gas. Founded two years ago and operating in secrecy to this day, Koloma, a #Denver-based company, is drilling its first wells in the Midwest and examining rocks and gas samples from them in a Columbus lab to determine which reservoirs contain the most abundant and clean. The world now consumes about 100 million tons of hydrogen per year, and according to Goldman Sachs calculations, this market is valued at more than $120 billion. Most of the raw materials are extracted from natural gas, during which carbon is released. Hydrogen is mainly used for oil refining, fertilizers, chemicals and food production. However, the #US authorities believe that the element can play a more important role as a source of clean energy and transportation fuel, and are pouring huge amounts of money into related initiatives. The 2021 Infrastructure Act earmarked about $9.5 billion for clean hydrogen projects, and last year's Inflation Reduction Act included a tax credit for carbon-free fuels of $3 per kilo.

Biobead, a UQ team developing a novel method of removing pollutants from mining wastewater, is one of eight teams the inaugural National Energy Transition Accelerator (NETA) will support to build research-backed, scalable, commercially successful enterprises. With support from the Resources Technology and Critical Minerals Trailblazer, NETA will provide each team with a $10,000 equity-free grant, access to local, national and global energy leaders, exposure to potential customers and partners, as well as in-depth commercialisation knowledge on how to build scalable companies. The Trailblazer is a partnership between The University of Queensland, Curtin University and James Cook University that aims to encourage the translation and commercialisation of university research, strengthening capability and driving real-world impact within the resources technology and critical minerals sector. #smi #mining #research #commercialisation #sustainability #collaboration

Amazing feature in Forbes about Zanskar’s raise and mission to revolutionize geothermal exploration with AI! “We’ve now discovered more of these hidden geothermal resources in the past year and a half than the entire industry combined had done over the prior decade,” CEO Carl Hoiland told Forbes. Zanskar has developed machine learning models to solve one of geothermal’s biggest problems: finding ideal locations to drill. The exorbitant cost of drilling has largely kept geothermal from competing with other technologies like wind and solar, so much so that less than 1% of the U.S.’s electricity is produced with it. But Zanskar’s models analyze enormous amounts of data to find the best spots to dig for power, and the company hopes its models will significantly reduce the capital needed to build new plants.

🌋 Read our blog to learn more about #geothermalenergy trends and innovation fields. Get access to a #marketmap of startups in the geothermal energy market #PNPTCEnergy #RenewableFuture #SustainableTech #openinnovation #renewableenergy

When Bill Gates’s Breakthrough Energy Ventures, among others, backs a geologic hydrogen venture, it is safe to assume that this naturally-occurring form of #hydrogen is now firmly on the energy transition solution road map. There are still, however, many questions to be answered about how to extract it safely and transport it to where it is needed, which is why we are excited about Re2: Renew to Revive that will turn to science to sift the fact from the fiction of this form abundantly available gas. #geologichydrogen #energytransition #billgates

Two startups presenting gravity-based energy storage technologies for commercialisation have signed partnerships with major players in engineering and mining. The UK's Gravitricity and Australian company Green Gravity have both recently announced collaborations that will enable them to scout out potential sites where existing or former mine shafts could be repurposed to host their gravity storage tech. Both companies' energy storage system design consists of an underground shaft, in which a heavy weight is lifted to the top of the shaft using electricity as the system 'charges'. When discharging, the weight is lowered, driving generators. Click here to read more.... #renewableenergy #climatechange #uk #australia