Download - Geothermal Energy Resources
Geothermal EnergyResources
San Jose State University
FX RongèreMarch 2009
Geothermal Energy Resource
Huge resource: At 10 km under the ground the resource are 13 M
Quads Equivalent of 130,000 year of USA energy overall
consumption 100 GWe possible in the USA by 2050
In California, Geothermal Energy is big:
Source: CEC-300-2007-0072006 NET SYSTEM POWER REPORT
2,068 MW installed in California in 2006 compared to 2,313 MW for the USASource: EIA.gov
Types of Geothermal Energy
3 types of Geothermal Energy Power Generation (>3km - >150oC) District Heating (500m - <100oC) Geothermal Heat Pumps (100m - <20oC)
Source: http://www.geothermal.ch/eng/vision.html
Geothermal Resource
http://www.worldbank.org/html/fpd/energy/geothermal/technology.htm
Heat comes from the core of the earth, the natural earth radioactivity, and chemical reactions
Estimation of the heat flux
Conduction through the lithosphere
Ad
TTknTgradkQ
crust
MSA
Acond ....
k Thermal conductivity of the crust (2 W.m.K-1)
TS Temperature at the surface of the crust (20oC)
n Normal to the surface
TM Temperature of the surface of the mantel ( 930oC)
dcrust Depth of the crust is about 30 km
A Area (1 m2)
206.0
WmQcond
Capture the energy deep in the crust
Water flow allows much higher fluxDrill a well deep enough to get the
required temperature
Assuming uniform crust depth
Average temperature gradient in the crust
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
0 200 400 600 800 1,000
Temperature (C)
Dep
th (km
)
Plate Tectonics
Best resources are at the boundaries of main plates
Current Drilling Cost
Source:The Future of Geothermal Energy 2006
Geothermal Resources USA
Geothermal Resources USA
Geothermal Resources USA
Geothermal Resources USA
California Geothermal Resources
Geothermal Power Plants
Glass Mountain 49 MW 96AmedeeHoney Lake 4 MW 85-89Geysers 1,421 MW 71-89Casa DiabloMammoth 40 MW 84-90Coso 274 MW 87-89Salton Sea 336 MW 82-00Heber 85 MW 85-93East Mesa 99 MW 87-89TOTAL 2,308 MW