Theme 1 – Optimism about EGS as a promising baseload renewable
Many commenters see the project as a step forward for clean, firm power, especially where solar/wind alone fall short.
- “Yes! It's near where I live, very excited to see this come online.” – billjive
- “Certainly a welcome development. Let's hope this pilot can be repeated and scaled.” – thinkcontext
- “If the coffin needed any more nails, this puts the final kibosh on that cancelled SMR project… Geothermal makes much more sense for them now.” – pfdietz
Theme 2 – Concerns over technical and economic hurdles
Thermal drawdown, high parasitic loads, cost, seismicity, and water impacts are repeatedly flagged as barriers.
- “23 months to build is impressive, but the number that matters for EGS is thermal drawdown… I'd like to see Cape's output a few years in.” – andruschakartem
- “The nameplate 100MW… does not include the parasitic load of pumping… ~60% parasitic load for their test facility… eventually targeting 30‑40%.” – jakebol
- “At $7,000 per kW for Phase 1 against the $2,157 per kW Canary Media gives for a 2025 gas plant… Solar plus battery and a touch of wind wins by a long shot.” – throwaway2037
- “They tried to drill for one in Switzerland twice… both times causes earthquakes significant enough that the whole project was scraped.” – sschueller
Theme 3 – How EGS fits alongside solar+storage and niche markets
Commenters compare EGS to rapidly falling solar‑plus‑storage costs and note it may serve specific baseload or policy‑driven needs.
- “If we look at our Fastest MW analysis, the fastest way to get power to the grid right now is solar+BESS… a price