Funded by organisations such as Google.org, the US Department of Energy and others, a demonstration project in the Geysers was planned to show how AltaRock’s Engineered Geothermal Systems (EGS) could work to harness underground renewable heat energy.

EGS works by pumping water down into the earth, where it heats up as it flows through the rocks. It is then pumped back up to the surface where the steam produced is used to generate electricity.

Drilling at the site has been suspended due to difficulties arising from “geologic anomalies particular to the formation underlying this well location” according to AltaRock.

Despite this, AltaRock insist that they are considering other locations for the project as well as continuing to develop their EGS technology.