Three Bits
Three bits: Thermal energy, meet grid, The tanker that couldn't and we made a quiz!
Your routine roundup of drilling news and notes from across the globe
Each week, The Driller takes a look at the news that's affecting the industry and the people involved in all of it. From geothermal to water to the latest in equipment and the innovation that powers it, scouring news sites and more from across the globe.
Here’s what you need to know for the week of Oct. 12-16.
Speeding up the process
For far too long, the geothermal exchange industry has been pigeonholed into heating-dominant climates, where the focus is on replacing fossil fuel furnaces in the dead of winter. However, subsurface thermal exchange bypasses atmospheric bottlenecks. By harnessing the firm, constant temperature of thermal energy resources, systems can maintain peak operating efficiency year-round, shaving critical gigawatts off a strained power grid precisely when it is closest to the brink.
Paso Robles drill firm all in on groundwater
Earlier this month, Pacific Coast Well Drilling Inc., based in Paso Robles, Calif., will help expand groundwater recharge infrastructure in California's Carpinteria Valley after securing a $6.5 million contract for two injection wells and six monitoring wells.
More PFAS discovery methods emerge
Since 2016, at least 10 methods to measure different PFAS substances that cover all environmental matrices have emerged, according to SGS Axys Analytical, a trace organics laboratory based in British Columbia, Canada. The company added that along with the increasing methods used to detect levels of PFAS, the lists of PFAS that commercial laboratories can report — including methods for total PFAS detection, not just targeted PFAS — are also increasing. Here’s more on what’s next.
Image: Nigel Msipa via UnsplashPutting the work on pause
Work was temporarily halted at Nevada Organic Phosphate Inc.’s Murdock Mountain Project in northeastern Nevada. Why? A broken-down water tanker. The Vancouver-based company reported that it had started drilling hole MM26-11 at Pad 13, about 315 meters (1,033 feet) along strike from the previous hole, MM26-10. However work was delayed after a transfer case failed on a six-wheel-drive water tanker supporting the operation. Here’s more on the situation, and the solution.
OSHA cites Florida based company
A timely safety reminder comes by way of a recent citation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration on a Florida-based company for a willful violation after an employee was fatally struck by a rotating pipe stem at a New Smyrna Beach, Fla. worksite in March. In partnership with Industrial Safety and Hygiene Magazine, here’s more details on rig and the result.
Humble brag. We made a quiz!
Drillers are always learning. We’ve created a fun way for you to test the knowledge you know, and gain some smart insight when it comes to the work you do everyday with our collection of quizzes, called Driller or Digger? Choose your category, take the quiz and see where you stack up with the rest of the industry. Get started right here!
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