Quaise's millimeter-wave drill bet: $280M behind world's first superhot geothermal plant

Quaise Energy is developing a gyrotron-powered drilling system that vaporizes rock with millimeter waves, aiming to build utility-scale power plants that tap superhot (300–500°C) geothermal reservoirs several kilometers underground.

Millimeter waves can vaporize rock where drill bits fail, unlocking 300–500°C superhot geothermal that runs as baseload power at utility scale.

Quaise Energy was co-founded in 2018 by CEO Carlos Araque and Matt Houde as an MIT Energy Initiative spinout, commercializing an idea MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center research engineer Paul Woskov first proposed in 2008: take the gyrotron, a device built for fusion research, and use its millimeter waves to bore through rock at depths and temperatures that destroy conventional drill bits. The thesis was that reaching 300–500°C rock turns geothermal from a niche resource into baseload power.

Quaise moved from controlled tests to the field in 2025: in July it drilled a 118-meter hole through granite in Texas, its first full-scale penetration of basement rock, followed by public demonstrations in the fall, and by mid-2026 its Central Texas site was approaching 1 km of depth. In April 2026 it presented the Project Obsidian plan: a 50MW first phase (250MW later) on 1,334 leased acres south of Newberry volcano in Oregon, targeting first power by 2030. In July 2026 the company closed the first $134M of a Series B led by Prelude Ventures with Japan's JERA and Idemitsu Kosan, and Nabors Industries invested $35M plus drilling expertise in the final close, bringing the round to $180M and cumulative funding to $280M.

Still building toward its first plant: as of September 2026 Quaise had closed the Series B, completed site preparation at Project Obsidian, and planned to drill a deep confirmation well in 2026 and run the first EGS circulation test by year-end, with first grid power targeted for 2030.

Superhot rock changes geothermal's economics: 300–500°C reservoirs deliver far more power per well than today's lower-temperature resources.

The gyrotron is proven, borrowed hardware from fusion research, so the startup's risk was drilling physics, not inventing the power source.

Field proof came in checkable stages: a 118m granite hole in July 2025, public demos in fall 2025, then nearly 1 km of depth by mid-2026.

Strategic investors de-risked the path: JERA and Idemitsu (power and refining) and Nabors (drilling) put capital and operational expertise behind Project Obsidian.

Don't rebuild the machine, swap the bit: Quaise rode conventional drilling rigs and federal leases, changing only the physics below a kilometer — radical technology, familiar business rails.

As of September 2026 Quaise is executing Project Obsidian: access-road and drilling-pad work near Oregon's Newberry volcano was nearly complete in January 2026, a deep confirmation well was slated for Q2 2026, and the first EGS well pair with a circulation test was planned for late 2026. First power is targeted by 2030, with the first phase at 50MW and a later phase at 250MW. The company closed a $180M Series B in summer 2026, bringing cumulative funding to $280M, and says it is raising project-level equity and debt toward first revenues.