u.s. dept. of energy predicts compact rigs

Just found an article put out in 2006 by the U.S. Department of Energy?s Geothermal Technologies Office.
It talks about how Compact Rigs will be a boost to Geothermal Drilling, are a future need and pretty much describes Globedrill's technology.
Link at the end but here is the intro:
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"The ideal compact rig would save money and reduce environmental impact drilling of moderately deep oil, gas and geothermal wells, historically utilising very large drill rigs. Typically these rigs have masts up to 140 feet tall, are bulky, built-in-place substructures and have multiple large engines to raise and lower drill strings, rotate the bit, circulate drilling fluids and generate electricity. Transport of these machines can require in excess of 100 truckloads and ?rig-up? involves the use of cranes, bulldozers, forklifts, front-end loaders and other heavy construction equipment.

Today, the geothermal industry must compete with natural gas when trying to sell electricity to utilities. The highest single cost of geothermally generating power is the drilling of production and injection wells. Important components of the overall drilling costs include the cost of mobilization and demobilization, crew-related charges and fuel. When working overseas, the impact of these particular line items on total costs is even greater. Additionally, environmental concerns associated with the use of large drill rigs are increasing all over the world. These must be addressed if continued geothermal drilling is to be possible at reasonable costs.

If a smaller, more easily transportable and less expensive (to run) drill rig can be found or designed and built to drill deep geothermal production and injection wells, overall drilling costs (and electric power costs) can be decreased significantly. The use of compact rigs would help make geothermal resources more competitive as a power-generating fuel while at the same time decreasing the environmental impacts of operations conducted using large drill rigs."
February 2006

http://www.nationaldriller.com/CDA/Archives/f079543281b39010VgnVCM100000f932a8c0____