This is taken from a corporate site in the business. My main reason for posting this is the map that shows the extent of available geothermal energy in the USA. It is all about the extent of the resource in Nevada. The whole state is shown to be underlain by available 100C water.
That means saturated steam can be flowed to surface almost everywhere. The power resource is huge and by itself large enough to justify a high power trunk line both to California and to Chicago and points East and South from there.
The picture of the process is also good and the first I have seen with all the features. If the map means anything, then thousands of facilities can be built in with conjunction with Reverse Rankin Engines to convert the waste water heat.
This is a natural energy resource that can be totally clean to operate. As important, it is convenient to work around in Nevada with lots of accessible terrain.
This report also has a lot of reference links at the end.
Geothermal Energy: A Natural Source of Clean Power
Geothermal Brochure - click here to download in pdf format (4.1Mb)
World Geothermal Power Generation 2001 – 2005
By Ruggero Betani - Enel, Generation and Energy Management - Renewable Energy - Geothermal Production
This is a article that was published by special permission in the Geothermal Resource Council Bulletin May/June 2006 issue, Vol. 35, No. 3. This is a review of all the country update papers submitted to the World Geothermal Congress (WGC 2005) from countries in which geothermal electricity is currently being generated. To read more click here to download in pdf format (1.13Mb)Geothermal energy (literally heat from the earth) has become the "green" energy alternative of choice because it is natural, clean, renewable, reliable, efficient and inexpensive to operate. The western U.S.A. has a generous endowment of geothermal potential. Nevada occupies the area of highest crustal heat flow in North America, thanks to increased magmatic activity related to plate tectonics.Today, Nevada is one of the top producers of geothermal power, with 318 MW installed capacity. Geothermal energy provides about 9% of northern Nevada's electricity with 16 power plants operating at 12 geothermal sites. Nevada holds the largest amount of untapped geothermal resources in the US with a potential for 2,500 to 3,700 MW of electricity.
Geothermal heat can be harnessed for clean electrical power generation wherever there is high heat flow in deep, fractured rock formations and a shallower, non-fractured or sealed caprock.
Ground water in the deep fractures becomes heated and rises to form a geothermal reservoir under the cap rock. Production wells are typically drilled one to two km deep to bring the hot water (at least 150°C) up to surface where it flashes to steam. The steam is then used to drive turbines for generating electricity and the residual water is pumped back down injection wells to recharge the reservoir.
· Geo-Heat Center, Oregon Institute of Technology, Geothermal Information and Technology Transfer
http://geoheat.oit.edu
· eia Department of Energy - Geothermal
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/solar.renewables/page/geothermal/geothermal.html
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