https://dandelionenergy.com/ is also tackling this problem

Dig Energy? ? And their small drill rig? This sounds like a late April Fools joke.

This is a nice PR fluff piece for something that already exists. Google ‘compact directional drill’ for a number of examples from manufacturers that have been around for a long time with established customers that trust them.

-Ditch Witch (founded in 1949, owned by Toro)

-Vermeer (private, in business since 1948)

-TT Technologies (private, in business doing microtunneling/microboring since 1990)

Directional boring contractors buy the big $2M truck mounted rigs because 99.9% of directional boring is commercial or industrial. For the tiny fraction of customers that are adding a ground source heat pump to an existing house, they’ll have one well so they don’t have to worry about pipes being too close together. Directional boring isn’t required for geothermal in new builds, trenching and backfilling on a greenfield site is going to cost substantially less than directional boring.

There are also trailer mounted hydrovac/water jet excavators, you still need a ton of water so you’re limited by the minimum tank size here.