Provided drilling technology research is adequately funded, that technology will likely be developed enough in about seven years so it can access depths where the rock is hot enough to turn water into steam at such a rate it will generate about ten times the amount of electricity currently produced by geothermal systems, the head of a firm conducting geothermal research told The Driller.

Current geothermal technology heats water to produce steam that is at or below 200°C, according to Lev Ring, president of Sage Geosystems, Inc., which is developing energy storage and geothermal base-load technologies.