A new survey shows a major surge in developing geothermal power projects in the U.S. Some 45 projects are underway that could nearly double U.S. geothermal power output according to the Geothermal Energy Association (GEA) -- the industry trade group. The U.S. had 2,828 MW of geothermal power capacity on-line in 2005.
The survey identified new power projects in Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon and Utah. These projects, when developed, would provide between 1,820 MW and 2095 MW of new electric power for the grid. This would be enough electricity to meet the needs of cities the size of Albuquerque, Las Vegas, Sacramento and Seattle combined, GEA noted.
Geothermal energy is defined as heat from the Earth. It is a clean, renewable resource that provides energy in the United States and around the world. It is considered a renewable resource because the heat emanating from the interior of the Earth is essentially limitless. The heat continuously flowing from the Earth’s interior is estimated to be equivalent to 42 million megawatts of power. The interior of the Earth is expected to remain extremely hot for billions of year to come, ensuring an inexhaustible flow of heat.
To develop electricity from geothermal resources, wells are drilled into the natural hot water or steam, known as a geothermal reservoir. The reservoir collects many meters below the groundwater table. Wells bring the geothermal liquid to the surface, where it is converted at a power plant into electricity.
Geothermal has a higher capacity factor than many other power sources. Unlike wind and solar resources, which are more dependent upon weather fluctuations and climate changes, geothermal resources are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Nine western states, where the majority of geothermal resouces are located, have the potential to provide over 20 percent of national electricity needs. Although geothermal power plants, concentrated in the West, provide the third largest domestic source of renewable electricity after hydropower and biomass, they currently produce less than one percent of total U.S. electricity.
Resource: U.S. Geothermal Power Poised to Double, New Survey Shows Press release, Geothermal Energy Association
Technorati tags: geothermal energy, geothermal power, energy, technology
The Energy Blog: Geothermal Power to Double
This is where it gets confusin', Jim.
Geothermal can mean drilling into a "geothermal reservoir". Such development is only available where such activity is effectively accessible. Generally, this would apply to large scale power generation projects.
Geothermal, also can mean, geothermal heat pumps, ground source heat pumps, geo-exchange heat pumps, etc. This would to almost anyone wanting to build an energy efficient home. It can be a very cost effective way to utilize renewable energy. While it also is possible to retrofit such technology, it can be less cost effective to so. The exception may be if a large enough volume of water is nearby for heat exchange.
And, either case, President Bush seems to be ignoring this renewable energy technology while mentioning solar and wind.
Posted by: jcwinnie | March 17, 2006 at 07:10 PM
Geothermal doesn't have a political constituency on the one hand, and has some pretty severe geographical restrictions on the other. It deserves some attention but compared to the 72 TW of world-wide wind potential, it should be a back-burner effort.
Posted by: Engineer-Poet | March 18, 2006 at 12:48 AM
Check out this introduction article on Geothermal power:
http://www.articleworld.org/Geothermal_power
Posted by: Geothermalpower | June 21, 2006 at 07:10 AM
Currently there is over 2600 MW of installed geothermal electrical generation capacity in the US. A typical geothermal plant is baseload, which means it operates most of the time. In the case of geothermal power plants that means an availability of over 95%. While wind has a less than twice the installed capacity of geothermal, wind is intermittant, operating anywhere from 15 - 30% of the time.
While the geothermal power projects now installed are in Nevada, California and Utah, there is economic potential for up to 10,000 MW of geothermal capacity in these and other western states. Beyond that, more geothermal power, up to 50,000 MW using conventional technology, is available at higher prices, still in the west.
The real potential for geothermal energy lies in the future, though. A recently completed study by a group of geothermal experts done through MIT found a potential of over 13 TW of developable geothermal power in the US alone. This resource is spread across the country. In Europe, new geothermal projects are starting in the Rhine valley and in Switzerland. In Australia there are 7 companies using advanced geothermal technology to develop large scale generating projects.
Because geothermal power is baseload, it is an excellent option for generation of hydrogen using off peak power production.
I don't think this is a back burning technology, and I don't think we should ignore it.
Posted by: Susan Petty | July 26, 2006 at 07:40 PM
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アメリカを代表する世界のプレミア?ジュエラー、ティファニーは1837年の創設以来、時を越えて多くの人々を魅了してきた。ティファニーのジュエリー、シルバー、ウォッチ、そのデザインの数々は何世代にもわたって世界中で愛され続けている。ティファニー 通販
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