Across the globe, geothermal drilling has surged in response to the demand for a cleaner alternative to heating and cooling buildings. Although the increased market for geothermal drilling is great news for drilling professionals, it’s also bringing more competition from drill operators wanting a piece of the business.

Derek Stewart from Catskills Geothermal and Well Drilling, a third generation well drilling professional, has been drilling geothermal wells for several years. Recently he began searching for a solution to a number of problems.  Increased competition has brought the price of geothermal drilling down.

Derek is well versed in technological improvements such as high-conductivity grout and the more recent intro duction of graphite-enhanced grout, to help improve heat transfer. So, when he came across the TWISTERTM high-efficiency, multiloop geoexchange pipe from Agreenability, he was excited to discover such an effective solution. Knowing each foot is expensive to drill, but also being limited in what he could charge per foot, TWISTERTM offered a way to increase the value of a borehole without having to drill deeper.

TWISTERTM increases the rate of heat exchange between the heat transfer fluid and ground so effectively, it can increase the capacity of a 300-foot bore from two tons (with standard 14-inch pipe) to three tons, representing a 50% increase in value of the borehole. The increased value means drill operators can charge more per foot. Although TWISTERTM costs more than standard pipe, the additional cost is easily recovered by the increased value of the borehole.

While it’s a drastic improvement over standard technology, it’s constructed with the same reliable HDPE (high density polyethylene) materials and meets requirements of IGSHPA (International Ground Source Heat Pump Association), as well as most state geothermal well specifications. Best of all, it’s installed the exact same way as a standard loop, so you don’t have to change the installation process.

SOURCE: The original Article can be found at the World Wide Drilling Resource website in the article archive page (please note this original article is built in adobe flash and you must allow flash to run in your browser in order to view this article):  https://media.worldwidedrillingresource.com/archiv/2020/April202/30/