Barker Drilling’s interest in geothermal began with the owner, Brent Barker, swimming in hot springs as a young boy with his brother Bruce.  Bruce told him that the hot water flowing from the ground was also energy. Since then, Brent has continued to think about geothermal opportunities and he has a passion to utilize the untapped geothermal energy produced in WA to help reduce climate change.  There has been a lot of controversy over climate change, but today’s scientific evidence is clear that we need to start doing what we can to help reduce it.  Brent’s thoughts are “whatever we did yesterday, we can do better today and tomorrow.”   So he strives to incorporate continuous quality improvement (CQI) in his drilling business, looking at the way things have been done, and seeing if there may be a better way.  Tapping into Washington’s geothermal energy source would be another way to produce energy and help reduce climate change.

 

Brent feels the responsibility to promote geothermal and has the tools to make a difference. Where acreage is too small to support horizontal piping systems, vertical boreholes may be drilled and two vertical tubes with a u-bend assembly at the bottom (closed loop system) is the conduit of bringing heat to the surface in which a heat pump (ground heat exchanger system) provides heat for our man-made structures. Barker Drilling is currently drilling ground source heat pump bore holes for research and development. See Barker Drilling “CURRENT PROJECTS” tab for more details.

 

Barker Drilling’s greater interest is in geothermal for power. Similar to ground source heat pump boreholes, larger diameter and deeper holes can provide electrical power for thousands of homes. This is not a new technology, but great advancements have been made in the last 10 years since Barker Drilling has been pursuing this technology. Today, if unable to find dry steam drilling exploratory holes, generation plants are still achievable, even with hot-dry rocks with cooler temperatures. Binary systems may pump water through an injection borehole and after passing through the geothermal reservoir, warm water is retracted with a pump from the production well through a heat exchanger and heats a secondary fluid with a lower boiling point than water. The vapor from this fluid winds up the turbine which spins the generator and electrical power is sent to our homes and businesses via transmission lines. The heated water is re-injected and the process starts again. Condensers cool the secondary fluid to restart its process. Brent has visited different types of geothermal power plants (using air cooled and water cooled condensers, and other differences), to gather as much information as possible for efficiency purposes. For example, close loop systems do not let damaging gas escape, and this protects our environment.

 

As far as drilling exploration holes to locate geothermal reservoirs, Brent has not only studied geology, but driven to and hiked the mountains of WA and UT to better understand geology and look for possible drill sites, conferred with many geologists, power companies, state agencies and had the opportunity to overcome drilling concerns. See “ABOUT US” tab that briefly touches upon WA state geology. Not like oil and gas drilling, which is usually in softer sedimentary rocks, geothermal reservoirs are most likely in volcanic type rocks, basalts, granites, and other hard rocks.  Brent has found drilling processes and tools to make all this feasible and still maintain well control which protects personnel and our environment.

 

Starting out as a water-well driller, Brent is extremely conscience about our ground water and concerns of climate change, and soon hopes to begin several geothermal exploration holes. How can you be a part of this? See “Contact" tab.