The archive · Climate & Energy · Technical decision · 2018–2026
Quaise's millimeter-wave drill bet: $280M behind world's first superhot geothermal plant
Quaise vaporizes rock with millimeter waves to reach superhot geothermal depths; $180M Series B funds its 50MW Project Obsidian plant.
Quaise Energy
What the business is
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.
How it started
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.
What happened
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.
How it ended up
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.
Background
Quaise Energy, co-founded in 2018 by Carlos Araque and Matt Houde, commercializes an idea from MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center: use the gyrotron, a millimeter-wave device built for fusion research, to vaporize rock and drill to depths and temperatures where conventional bits fail. The company spun out of MIT's Energy Initiative betting that reaching 300–500°C rock would make geothermal a baseload energy source rather than a niche resource.
The technology went field-scale in 2025: in July Quaise drilled a 118-meter hole through granite in Texas, its first full-scale penetration of basement rock outside controlled conditions, followed by public demonstrations in the fall. By mid-2026 the same site was approaching 1 km of depth, which Quaise says would be the deepest penetration achieved by any non-contact drilling technology.
The commercial target is Project Obsidian, a plant south of Oregon's Newberry volcano on federal geothermal leases: a 50MW first phase, a later 250MW phase, and first grid power targeted by 2030. Financing followed the milestones — a $134M first close in July 2026 led by Prelude Ventures with JERA and Idemitsu, then a final close with a $35M investment from Nabors Industries, bringing the Series B to $180M and total funding to $280M. The open question is whether millimeter-wave drilling proves reliable at multi-kilometer depth and whether the 2030 plant schedule holds.
What has to be true
- 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.
What can be applied
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.
Aftermath
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.
Sources
- MITEI spinout Quaise raises $180 million
- Quaise Energy Raises $134M To Build Superhot Geothermal Power Plant
- Quaise presents development plans for 50-MW superhot geothermal plant in Oregon
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