Geothermal energy is heat generated and stored deep in the earth. When it permeates up and contacts water, it warms it. This is the source of hot springs and therapeutic thermal baths. If we could harness it, we could have unlimited green energy forever.
The first commercial geothermal electricity generator was at the Lardarello dry steam field in Tuscany, Italy in 1911.
The locals called the site the ‘devil’s valley’ because of steam emerging from the vents.
New Zealand was the first country to take geothermal energy to the next level after which many countries followed.
New Zealand’s Geothermal Energy Program
Geothermal energy has been feeding the New Zealand power grid since 1958. It supplies 750 megawatts of energy or 13% of demand. In principle engineers drop pipes down holes above which tourists take therapeutic swims. Then they pump boiling water to giant generators waiting to turn.
New Developments in Geothermal Energy
Djibouti wants its share of the action too. In August 2016, it engaged Toshiba to help develop 50 geothermal projects across the country. The installed capacity could be as much as a gigawatt. Djibouti hopes this will drive down electricity costs and encourage economic growth.
Meanwhile Iceland is drilling the ‘hottest hole in the world’. It wants to find out whether it can get electricity from molten magna welling up from Earth’s core, and oozing through volcanos.
The hole will be 3.1 miles deep and reach temperatures between 400 and 1,000 degrees Celsius. The plan is to use the heat to create supercritical steam, and generate electricity.
Iceland’s project arose from a mistake made in 2009, when engineers creating a geothermal well drilled into magna in error. Bravely or foolishly, they poured water down the well and generated 30 megawatts of power. Of such small things great may come.
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Thermal and Thermochemical Conversion of Biomass into Energy
