Quaise Energy, a geothermal startup spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has raised $134 million to commercialize a millimeter-wave drilling technology designed to reach ultra-hot rock deep beneath the Earth’s surface, paving the way for what it says will be the world’s first commercial superhot geothermal power plant.
The Series B funding will support construction of Project Obsidian in Central Oregon while accelerating development of Quaise’s non-contact drilling system beyond depths of 3 miles. The round was led by Prelude Ventures, with participation from Japan’s JERA Co. and Idemitsu Kosan, alongside existing investors including Safar Partners.
The company said its drilling system is approaching nearly 0.6 miles of depth at its Central Texas test site after successfully penetrating more than 100 meters of granite under full-scale field conditions earlier this year. If achieved, the milestone would mark the deepest penetration ever recorded using non-contact drilling technology.
Unlike conventional drilling, which relies on rotating drill bits that wear down in hard rock, the Houston-based startup’s system directs high-power millimeter waves into the borehole to ablate rock. The process converts solid rock directly into vapor, allowing drilling to continue into geological formations that are too hot and abrasive for traditional equipment.
Drilling beyond drill bits
The technology was developed following more than a decade of research at MIT. Quaise says it could unlock rock temperatures between 572°F and 932°F across much of the world, enabling geothermal systems capable of producing power densities comparable to fossil fuel and nuclear plants while maintaining the low emissions of renewable energy.
Current geothermal plants are limited by the depth that conventional drilling systems can economically reach. By accessing much hotter rock, superhot geothermal systems can generate significantly more energy from a single well, reducing the number of wells needed for commercial-scale power production.
“Our ambition is to power civilization with Earth’s most compelling energy source. This round takes us from field-proven technology to first commercial revenues,” said Carlos Araque, CEO and President of Quaise Energy.
Chasing Earth’s deepest heat
Project Obsidian is being built on federal geothermal leases in Oregon’s Deschutes National Forest, one of the most extensively studied geothermal regions in the United States. Quaise said the site has gigawatt-scale potential and is expected to deliver its first electricity to the grid by 2030, helping improve grid stability across the Pacific Northwest.
The company said the latest drilling results validate the core technology that will be deployed at Project Obsidian and future geothermal developments. The funding will also support continued commercialization of the millimeter-wave drilling system as Quaise raises additional project-level equity and debt financing.
“We have backed Quaise since the beginning because we believed accessing superhot rock would unlock geothermal energy at a scale the world has never seen,” said Mark Cupta, Managing Director at Prelude Ventures.
Quaise has now raised a total of $230 million. The company says its broader financing package will also include project-level capital and debt as it moves toward commercial operations and first power sales through undisclosed off-take partners.