Geothermal - 1

Edward Edberg
1400510026

History of Geothermal Energy Utilization

Hot Spring

Bathing

Health (Mineral)

Cooking

Religious meaning

Fishing Cone Geyser

in Yellowstone Lake
Cooking fish

200 BC
Badenweiler
(Southern
Germany)
Sanus per
aquam

Thermal spa
Baden-Baden
Underfloor heating
system

Last 150 years

Thermodynamics helped efficiently convert energy
from hot steam first in mechanical energy and then
into electrical energy with help of turbines and
generators.
In 1827 Francesco Larderel, the founder of the boron
industry, installed the first plant for geothermal energy
conversion.
In 1904 the first electrical power was produced from a
geothermal energy source by coupling a steam engine
to a generator in Larderello.

In 1913 250 kW
In 1915 15 MW
In 1931 new
drillholes
In 1939 66 mW
WWII
In 2010 545
MW (1.6% Italy)

 In 1890, early sysmtematic geothermal heat utilization

was accomplished in Boise, Idaho, USA by completing
a district heating system.
This system was copied in 1900 by Klamath Falls,
Oregon, USA.
In 1926, Klamath Falls started to use a geothermal
well to heat greenhouses.
The first private homes were geothermally heated
from separate wells in Klamath Falls in 1930.

 The utilization of thermal water for heating homes and

greenhouses started in the Reykjavik, Iceland, on a
large scale in 1920s.
The first wells were drilled into hot water reservoirs for
heating buildings as early as in the middle of the 19th
century.
Geothermal heating of public buildings and entire city
districts followed.
Iceland is clearly number 1 in utilization of geothermal
energy in the world. 79.700 TJ or 53% of primary
energy is supplied by geothermal sources.

 Geothermal and hydroelectric energy provide 99.9% of the

countrys electrical energy demand.
Low-enthalpy geothermal fields near Reykjavik supply
water with temperature of up to 150 0C which can be used
in house heating systems.
More than half of Icelands population lives in the area.
Geothermal fields provide heat and hot water for 90% of
the Icelandic households.
The high-enthalpy fields area located along the active
volcanic belt that cross the island.
Typical temperatures are 2000C, but these waters are
highly mineralized and gas-rich and cannot be used
directly.
The diverse power plants produce typically some 10 MW
electrical power in steam tubines.

Nesjavellir

Southwest Iceland
120 MW
Uses volcanic heat, springs, and
drilled wells.
Thermal water of Iceland are
employed in many different
branches of industry.

 In 1960 northern California initiated the project The Geysers.

Today, The Geysers Complex has a combined installed capacity of 1520
MW.
The profitability of geothermal energy production is subject to general
economic conditions, such as demand, supply and price of other forms of
energy for instance crude oil.
Changing laws and environmental regulations may cause increasing
efforts and costs.
Greece and Argentina, for instance, shut down existing geothermal
installations due to environmental and economic reasons.

- 99% of the Earth is

hotter than 1000 oC.
- Only 0.1% is colder
than 100 oC.
- The average
temperature at the
Earth surface is 14 oC.
- Core : 5000 oC, 400
GPa.
- Fe-Ni : 2900 oC.

TYPES OF
GEOTHERMAL
RESOURCES

HYDROTHERMAL
- A large heat source.
- A permeable
reservoir.
- A supply of water.
- An overlying layer
of impervious rock.
- A reliable recharge
mechanism.

HOT DRY ROCK

Difficulties :
- Difficult to control very
deep wells.
- The temperatures
encountered are far
lower, and the rocks are
not as hard as those
found in geothermal
region.
- HDR wells must be
precisely aimed to hit the
deep target in order to
form a closed fluid
circuit.

GEOPRESSURE
Important
Properties :
Very high pressure.
Extract the
mechanical energy.
High temperature.
Extract the thermal
energy.
Dissolved methane.
For either the
combustion of the
gas on site for power
generation or for sale
to enhance the
economics.

MAGMA ENERGY
Concept :
Drill a well into the magma.
Insert an injection pipe.
Pump cold water down the well
under great pressure.
The cold fluid will solidify the
molten magma into a glassy
substance that should crack
under thermal stress.
If water can be made to return
to the surface by passing
upward through the cracked, it
would reach the surface hot.
Ready for use in a Rankinetype power plant.

DEEP HYDROTHERMAL
Deep Hydrothermal resources are those
that lie at depths of 2500-4000 m and
deeper.
They may lie in areas marke by normal
geothermal temperature gradients.
For example, in a place where the gradient
is say 30 oC/km.
Fluids found at 4000 m might be in the
range of 120 140 oC.

LOW TEMPERATURE
59% of all known
resources have
temperatures less than
130 oC. (Springs)
These geofluid are
generally less burdened
with dissolved solids and
are less aggressive from a
corrosion.
A small temperature
difference between the
resource and the
surroundings means that
the energy conversion
efficiency will be very low.

THANK YOU
E-mail : edward.edberg.halim@gmail.com