Geologists and engineers have successfully drilled into the heart of a volcano in Iceland, as part of a project aimed at assessing the economic feasibility of using deep unconventional geothermal resources to deliver renewable energy. Drilling so deep into such a hot borehole poses many difficulties, but if researchers manage to overcome the challenges, fewer geothermal wells would need to be drilled in the future because the energy content of fluids so deep into the ground is much higher than conventional geothermal steam. The Deployment of deep enhanced geothermal systems for sustainable energy business (DEEPEGS), funded under the EU’s Horizon 2020 program, considers unconventional geothermal resources as those that are superhot, up to 550 degrees Celsius (1,022 degrees Fahrenheit), and very deep—more than 3 kilometers (1.864 miles). Earlier this year the Iceland Deep Drilling Project (IDDP) at the Reykjanes Peninsula in Iceland completed drilling at a depth of 4.659 […]