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Page added on April 15, 2013
Making Enhanced Geothermal Energy Real
Ormat has produced 1.7 megawatts of power using enhanced geothermal methods from inside an existing geothermal field, the first power from this source to get on the electric grid.
Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) are controversial because drilling into hot rocks deep below the earth’s surface has been associated with earthquake-like seismic tremors in Switzerland and northern California.
Of the 3,385.6 megawatts of 2012 U.S. geothermal installed capacity, which was about 0.33 percent of installed U.S. generation and 3.5 percent of U.S. renewable energy generation, none was from EGS, according to the 2013 Annual U.S. Geothermal Power Production and Development Report from the Geothermal Energy Association. But EGS technology could cut geothermal costs and eliminate significant development risks, the report said, by allowing developers “to create multiple stimulated geothermal areas from a single well.”
If proven safe, EGS could turn the earth’s deep heat into productive geothermal power, even in the absence of the kind of water reservoir adjacent to the heat source that makes a conventional hydrothermal well viable. Ideally, EGS drilling would open up existing hydrothermal fractures, allowing pumped water to reach deeper hot rocks and return the heat for power production.
The breakthrough at Ormat’s Desert Peak 2 plant in Nevada is a step in that direction. New subsurface EGS drilling technologies were used to stimulate a 38 percent power production increase from a sub-commercial conventional well.
Ormat’s Desert Peak 2 plant uses air cooling and recirculates the geothermal brine to the original aquifer to minimize water consumption.
“Our objective,” explained Ormat founder/CTO Lucien Bronicki, “was to demonstrate that this technology can have a significant impact on sub-commercial wells. This could enable us to use unproductive wells to generate more power and new revenue.”
The EGS success was the result of a four-year collaboration between Ormat, the U.S. Department of Energy and consulting firm GeothermEx, supported by a $5.4 million DOE buy-in and a $2.6 million investment by Ormat.
During an April 11 panel discussion organized by the Geothermal Energy Association (GEA) to kick off its U.S. and International Geothermal Energy Finance Forum in New York City, DOE Geothermal Technologies Office Director Doug Hollett noted there are other pilot programs reaching critical stages and proving equally successful at the Calpine Corp. (CPN) Geysers project site in California and the AltaRock Energy Newberry project site in Oregon.
“These projects are giving us a pathway to do EGS projects at lower cost, at lower risk and in the near term,” Hollett said. “Rather than EGS being that very large number that sits out there in the future, we are developing the capability to do EGS within fields, and then on the margin of fields, and gradually, as we learn more, to go after that larger target of greenfield environments.”
“I don’t want to overstate where EGS is,” GEA Executive Director Karl Gawell said. “It has some successes and the green light is on right now, but we’re years away from the MIT-ideal project, decades away.”
The Desert Peak 2 success, Hollett added, “is an example of what the federal role should be. To push the boundaries and do what has not been done before. But,” he agreed, “we still have a long way to go.”
7 Comments on "Making Enhanced Geothermal Energy Real"
BillT on Mon, 15th Apr 2013 1:35 pm
“… we’re years away from the MIT-ideal project, decades away. …”
More techie porn. Yes Geothermal is a power source…but it is more dangerous than fraking if not done properly. “… controversial because drilling into hot rocks deep below the earth’s surface has been associated with earthquake-like seismic tremors…” Can you imagine someone trying tap the heat near a volcano and setting it off? Or a massive quake that takes out a city? Yes, boys, go play with your toys, but do it on some other planet.
Arthur on Mon, 15th Apr 2013 2:22 pm
Nothing wrong with drilling a hole in the ground and pumping water into it. No chemicals, no subsurface release of methane, no polution of groundwater.
Seismic-tremors… really? OMG, the horror. Life is a ‘deadly disease’ anyway with a lethal outcome for everybody.
Drill, baby, drill!
Arturo Wm Fallacio on Mon, 15th Apr 2013 3:26 pm
This is crystal rock fraccing, the kind that causes the big quakes.
Sedimentary oil and gas fraccing may cause a few small quakes out of several hundred thousand fraccs.
BillT on Tue, 16th Apr 2013 11:00 am
Arthur, your narrow vision is getting to be funny. My guess is that YOUR paycheck is from some techie source that has a short life span… Real geothermal energy is near hot spots on the earth’s surface. They are mostly all tapped already. Like any other energy source all the sweet spots have been taken. Now the not so efficient spots are being at temped out of desperation. Believe me, gong back to a world of the 40s or 50s is not the end of the world, it’s just different.
Arthur on Tue, 16th Apr 2013 2:09 pm
“Real geothermal energy is near hot spots on the earth’s surface. They are mostly all tapped already.”
Absolute BS.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_energy
“A typical well doublet (extraction and injection wells) in Nevada can support 4.5 megawatts (MW) and costs about $10 million to drill, with a 20% failure rate… In total, electrical plant construction and well drilling cost about €2-5 million per MW of electrical capacity”
That’s 2-5 the cost for windenergy but supply is reliable so you can save on storage. And the cost for drilling mentioned largely entails current 5000$ American workers rather than the much cheaper American labour of the future.
Nobody says we are going to be rich in the future, but we are not going to die either.
Arthur on Tue, 16th Apr 2013 2:11 pm
“Believe me, gong back to a world of the 40s or 50s is not the end of the world, it’s just different.”
Wow, I can’t believe my eyes!!!
What happened to the Four Horsemen?
When are you coming back to the US?
Arthur on Tue, 16th Apr 2013 4:00 pm
http://tinyurl.com/cg565w3 (pdf 19p)
Gives nice overview of geothermal situation. Big players:
USA – 2686 (MW)
Philipines – 1970
Indonesia – 992
Mexico – 953
Italy – 811
Japan – 535
New Zealand – 472
Iceland – 421
Total 9700 (2007)
First electricity generated in 1913.
Potential: 70 GW electricity with current technology and 140 GW with improved technology. Adding yet to be discovered new sources, the author arrives at 1000-2000 GW, that is 8.3% of current global electricity capacity. That’s significant.