[Animats]

> 8,000–9,000 feet is approximately 2.5 kilometers.

The usual value for the geothermal gradient is 25 to 30 degrees C per kilometer. So at 2.5km, in most locations they might be able to get boiling water, but not superheated steam. Most of the geothermal enthusiasts are talking about needing to go down 4 to 12 kilometers. Is there something special about the geology at this site?

[jandrewrogers]

The site is part of the largest high-quality geothermal basin in the world. It is larger than most countries, encompassing almost the entirety of Nevada and large parts of adjacent States. The geothermal potential of the region is enormous, even just using classic geothermal technology.

The US has long been the world's leading producer of geothermal power, mostly generated from this basin.

[toomuchtodo]

Any resources on total energy potential in the basin you recommend?

[AnimalMuppet]

I couldn't see anything that said, but... probably.

Beaver County, Utah, has at least one hot spring, and I suspect more than that. I'm pretty sure that the location for this project was not chosen at random.

[Animats]

Found a geothermal potential map of the US.[1] Utah is in a different basin, but Colorado has a nice big hot spot.

It's not a fully renewable resource. It's possible to pull out too much heat too and deplete the resource. The entire geothermal heating of the planet is only 50 terawatts, which seems big, but it's spread over 500 million square kilometers. Or 100KW/km^2, which is not much. Solar is orders of magnitude larger.

[1] https://www.britannica.com/science/geothermal-energy

[metalman]

likely it is hot, porous rock that is capped in such a way that injected water will heat to the super critical point for water , or water exists as a super critical fluid there already