Geothermal is Having a Moment, Can it Deliver? Ep179: Cindy Taff

Is the key to clean energy the heat beneath our feet? Could advances in the fossil-fuel extraction industry hold the key to providing 24/7 clean power? And can a Texan CEO and former oil exec bring geothermal to the masses?

This week on Cleaning Up, Bryony Worthington sits down with Cindy Taff, a 35-year veteran of Shell, where she was Vice President of Unconventional Drilling, leading a team of 350 people with a budget of over $1 billion. Since leaving Shell, Cindy has made a bold pivot to the world of geothermal energy, and is now CEO of Sage Geosystems, where she is using her expertise in drilling, project management, and subsurface engineering to try to crack next generation geothermal energy.

Cindy shares her journey, from rising through the ranks at Shell to leading a startup on the cutting edge of the energy transition. She delves into the technical challenges of tapping into "hot, dry rock" geothermal resources, drilling at 20,000 feet below the Earth's surface, the regulatory hurdles of using techniques like fracking or 'stim drilling', and the potential to to use geothermal wells as an energy storage solution. Cindy has a unique perspective on how the oil and gas industry's toolbox can be repurposed to drive the clean energy transition, and believes geothermal is poised to play a crucial role in powering a sustainable future. Will she be proved right?

Leadership Circle:
Cleaning Up is supported by the Leadership Circle, and its founding members: Actis, EcoPragma Capital, Eurelectric, the Gilardini Foundation, KKR, National Grid, Octopus Energy, Quadrature Climate Foundation and Wärtsilä. For more information on the Leadership Circle and how to become a member, please visit https://www.cleaningup.live

Links and more:
• Sage Geosystems - https://www.sagegeosystems.com
• Sage Geosystems and Meta sign 150MW geothermal power agreement - https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/...
• Sage Geosystems raises $17M to build first-of-its-kind geothermal energy storage system in Texas: https://www.utilitydive.com/news/sage...
• Hot Rocks in a Box: The Rise of Thermal Batteries -    • Hot Rocks in a Box: The Rise of Thermal Ba...  

Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
04:30 - Why Cindy Chose Geothermal
07:20 - Geothermal's Resurgence
11:20 - Geothermal for Energy Storage
14:39 - Fracking & Permits
18:20 - Earthquakes
21:35 - First Commercial Facility
27:40 - Geothermal Baseload Power
30:16 - Efficiency
35:00 - Well Depletion
39:04 - Better Mapping
45:00 - Deal with Meta
51:20 - Outro