Briefly Explain Geo Thermal Energy and

Types Of Geo Thermal Resources Also

Explain Geo Thermal Electricity Mechanism

What is Geothermal Energy

If you’re a renewable energy enthusiast, you must have stumbled
across companies creating awareness about Geothermal Heating and
Cooling systems and wondered what geothermal energy is and why you
should spend some quality time knowing more about it. Well, today we
are going to save you the hassle of having to scour the internet to learn
what geothermal energy is and its great benefits.

The term geothermal originates from the Greek words; Geo, which
means earth and Thermal, which means heat. This derivation quickly
points to the definition of geothermal energy, which is heat emanating
from underneath the surface of the earth. The energy inside the earth was
formed by the decay of minerals and forests several years ago.
Traditionally, it was used for bathing and heating purposes but today it is
also used for generating electricity.

It’s a renewable energy source, meaning it’s inexhaustible to humans.

It’s also a green source of energy, meaning it does not emit greenhouse
gasses that are hazardous to human and environmental health.
Sources of Geothermal Energy Heat

Scientists have constantly parted ways on the real source of heat for the

generation of geothermal energy. But successive rigorous research has

converged to this explanation. Approximately 4000 miles underneath the

surface of the earth, this phenomenon called geothermal energy is

produced deep inside the earth’s core.

The earth’s core is composed of three layers; the outer silicate and solid
crust, a highly viscous mantle, and a liquid outer core. The outer core
consists of extremely hot magma or melted rock wrapping around a solid
iron center known as the inner core. The slow decay of radioactive
material continually generates extremely high temperatures inside the
earth.

This is a natural process in all rocks. Wrapping around the outer core is a
layer called the mantle. The mantle is approximately 1800 miles thick
and mainly composed of magma and rock. The crust is the outermost
layer of the earth’s core. The crust forms the bulk of continents and
ocean floors that run approximately three to five miles thick beneath the
oceans and 15 to 35 miles thick on the continents.

The earth’s crust is split into numerous parts known as plates. It is at the
edges of these plates that magma finds way near the surface of the earth.
It is in these areas that volcanoes are prevalent. When a volcano occurs,
lava erupts from underneath. This lava is partly magma. Underneath the
earth’s surface, the water and rocks absorb heat from the magma.

As the depth increases, so do the temperatures of the underground water

and rocks. Individuals across the world take advantage of the
underground energy to heat their homes and generate electricity by
digging up deep wells and subsequently pumping the hot underground
water or steam to the earth’s surface.
Geothermal energy dates far back in the ancient times where it was
utilized for heating and bathing. Today, hot springs across the world are
still being utilized for bathing.

How is Geothermal Energy Converted into Electricity

Utilizing geothermal energy to generate electricity is a considerably new

industry, which manifested in 1904 in Italy. Italians first powered a
turbine generator using natural steam erupting from beneath the earth.
The year 1960 heralded the first successful operation of the large-scale
geothermal electricity generation plant at the Geysers, North California.
A lot of American geothermal power plants are spread across California,
while the rest are located in Hawaii, Nevada, Utah, Idaho and Montana.

The conversion of geothermal energy into electricity occurs through a

geothermal power plant. The power plant harnesses the steam from the
hot water beneath the earth’s surface to turn turbines, which later
activates a generator to produce electricity. Some geothermal power
plants utilize steam to directly turn the turbine. Others utilize the steam
to heat a liquid that is used to turn the turbine.

Main Types of Geothermal Power Plants

Geothermal power plants come in 3 main types:

 Binary cycle power plants

 Dry steam power plants

  Flash steam power plants

These three kinds of geothermal power plants have one thing in

common; they utilize steam turbines to produce electricity. This concept
is pretty much comparable to other thermal power plants that use
alternative sources of energy other than geothermal.

Dry steam power plants

As the name suggests, these geothermal power plants utilize ‘’dry

steam” to generate electricity. Dry steam is, essentially, water vapor or
water in gaseous state. The geothermal power plant companies drill two
separate wells to the extremely hot water reservoir under the earth’s
surface; the production well and injection well. The production well
extracts steam with a temperature of at least 150°C (300°F) from the hot
water reservoir below and directs it to the turbine.

The steam turns the turbine, which turns a shaft connected to a

generator. With the turning, the generator converts the energy into
electricity, which goes through power lines to a power grid and
eventually supplied to homes, institutions, and industries. The used
steam finds its way to the condenser, where it’s converted into water and
sent back down to the hot water reservoir through the injection well and
the cycle continues.

Dry steam power plant is the old kind of geothermal power plant. The
first dry steam power plant was set up in 1904 in Larderello, Italy. In the
U.S., this type of geothermal power generation is only utilized in high
volcanic mountain areas in California.

Flash steam power plants

This kind of geothermal power plant utilizes water at temperatures of at

least 182°C (360°F). As the name suggests, it uses flash steam to
generate electricity. Flash steaming is the process whereby extremely
high-pressure hot water is flashed or vaporized into steam in a flash tank
by reducing the pressure. The steam is then directed to turn turbines,
which turns a shaft connected to a generator leading to production of
electricity.

Flash steam power plants are the most common types of geothermal
power plants in the modern world. The Wairakei Power Station, built in
1958 in New Zealand, was the first geothermal power plant that utilized
flash steam.

Binary cycle power plants

This geothermal power plant is advantageous compared to the flash

steam and dry steam power plants because it requires slightly cooler
water (as low as 57°C (135°F) to heat a separate fluid (binary fluid) that
has a lower boiling point.

The power plant enables cooler geothermal reservoirs to be utilized than

is necessary for the flash steam and dry steam power plants. We have
learned that the flash steam and dry steam use water at temperatures
higher than 182 °C (455 K; 360 °F), which is pumped up under
extremely high pressure to the electricity generation plant at the surface.

However, with binary cycle power plants, companies use pumps to

pump up hot water from the hot water reservoir below through the
production well, and the slightly cooler water is allowed to return to the
reservoir below. A separate fluid with a lower boiling point known as
the binary fluid, normally a pentane hydrocarbon or butane, is pumped
up at considerably high pressure via the heat exchanger.

At the heat exchanger, the binary fluid is vaporized and directed to turn
a turbine, which turns a shaft connected to a generator and electricity is
generated. The vapor used to turn the turbine is then converted to water
by cold air radiators and allowed to go back to the reservoir below
through the injection well.

In a nutshell, binary cycle power plants allow individuals to harvest

geothermal energy from hot water reservoirs that flash steam, and dry
steam plants would not permit. However, the binary cycle power plants
have an efficiency rate of just 10-13%. Russia is accredited with setting
up a successful binary cycle power project in 1967.

Geothermal electricity production does bear the brunt of low thermal

efficiency rates. However, the warm water, exhaust heat, and by-
products have numerous uses. Transportation of geothermal electricity is
the question that lingers in most people’s minds.
The mode of transportation of geothermal electricity has a lot in
common with other sources of power like solar and wind. Voltage is
normally enhanced to reduce losses, and the power conveyed onto the
electrical grid. Transporting power over long distances needs a highly
insulated piping system, which adds upfront costs to the overall
geothermal electricity generation.

Future Of Geothermal Energy

The future of geothermal energy depends on three factors: it’s demand,

supply and it’s competitiveness among other renewable resources in
terms of cost, availability, reliability etc.. Demand for geothermal energy
is going to increase and increase with the increase in the population and
extinction of other non-renewable sources. Moreover, today government
also support the resources which are cleaner and do not spoil the
environment.

Supply of geothermal energy is limited and confined to certain areas

only. The entire resource of geothermal energy is fairly bigger than that
of coal, oil and gas. Geothermal energy can be made more widely
available if the methods and technologies used to extract it are
improved. Geothermal energy is still not explored fully. Several miles
below the earth surface is hot, dry rock being heated by the molten
magma directly below it.
Geothermal Electric Technology

INTRODUCTION

Geothermal electric uses geothermal energy to turn a turbine and

generate electricity. The first geothermal power generator was tested in
Italy in 1904. The first large-scale geothermal electric plant in the
United States began operation in 1960, operating successfully for 30
years and producing 11 megawatts (MW) of net power. Geothermal
technologies produce about one-sixth of the carbon dioxide that a
relatively clean natural-gas-fueled power plant produces, and less than
1% of the carbon dioxide of a fossil-fuel plant. Geothermal electric
power plants can run at 90% availability, and the hydrothermal fluids are
recycled back into the earth after use.
The types of technologies typically used in geothermal electric power
plants include binary cycle, dry steam, and flash steam power plants.
Dry steam power plants use geothermal steam of 150°C (302°F) or
more, whereas flash steam power plants require relatively high-
temperature geothermal resources at about 180°C (356°F). Binary-cycle,
or organic Rankine cycle, power plants use lower temperature
geothermal resources around 100°C (212°F), which is a major advantage
in areas where only lower temperature resources are available. The
corresponding photo shows The Geysers, a dry steam geothermal
electric power plant in northern California and the world's largest
geothermal field.
Geothermal electric is not a widely used renewable energy technology
for most new construction or major renovation projects since most
buildings do not have direct availability to a geothermal resource.
Furthermore, geothermal electric plants require a large capital
investment and a typical building budget that does not allow for building
this type of a power plant. A site, however, can purchase their electricity
from an existing geothermal electric plant if available. If a project
warrants a larger generation facility, especially one that can also make
use of steam and process heat, geothermal electric in a combined heat
and power system may be an option.

The Geysers, near Santa Rosa in northern California, is the world's largest electricity-generating
geothermal development.

DESCRIPTION
The conversion technologies from hydrothermal fluids to electricity
include flash steam, dry steam, and binary-cycle power plants. Each
geothermal electric system is made up of several key components
including a:

 Production well
 Turbine
 Generator
 Injection well.
Dry steam power plants are the simplest and oldest design, upon which
the two other systems are based. They use a geothermal production well
that produces fluid heated by the natural heat of the earth. The steam
goes directly to a turbine, which drives a generator that produces
electricity. The fluid then goes into an injection well, which is a well that
is specifically drilled for the safe disposal of the geothermal fluids.

Binary-cycle power plants take the hot geothermal fluid from the
production well, but also use a secondary fluid, which passes through a
heat exchanger. Energy is extracted from the hydrothermal fluids
causing the working fluid to vaporize, drive the turbine, and generate
electricity.
Types and Costs Of Technology

Binary-cycle power plants are the most common type of geothermal

power generation in use today. The secondary fluid used in these plants
is usually isobutene or is opentane. Since the geothermal fluid passes
from the production well, heats the secondary fluid, and goes back down
the well, the binary-cycle power plant is a closed loop system.
Therefore, there is virtually nothing emitted into the atmosphere. The
U.S. Department of Energy is working to achieve $0.03 to $0.05 per
kilowatt-hour (kWh); 15,000 MW of new capacity are estimated within
the next decade.
APPLICATION
The United States leads the world in electricity generation with
geothermal power, producing 14.86 billion kWh, or 0.4% of the total
U.S. electricity in 2008. The United States Geological Survey estimates
that 70% to 80% of geothermal resources are hidden, making it a
challenge to find a site. As a result, investigators are currently working
on issues in drilling, resource usage, equipment, and geochemistry.
A good geothermal site includes:

 Hot geothermal fluid with low mineral and gas content

 High average thermal gradients
 High rock permeability and porosity while keeping fluids in place
 Shallow aquifers for producing and re-injecting hydrothermal
fluids
 Private land, which helps simplify the permitting process
 Make-up water availability, necessary for evaporative cooling.
Geothermal electricity systems are typically most economic in large,
utility-scale applications. Many Federal facilities will not be interested
in building a geothermal electric power plant, considering the limited
resource availability and the high capital cost. Military installations may
be interested in baseload, renewable power, and facilities near lower-
temperature resource may be able to take advantage of combined heat
and power applications. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology
released The Future of Geothermal Energy , an in-depth report that
evaluates the potential use of geothermal energy within the United
States.