Together, these projects provide approximately 20 million gallons of reclaimed water per day for injection into The Geysers reservoir.
IMO part of the problem is people insist on using plain distilled water as their working fluid on these systems. Way back in 1982 I remember reading about a off the grid system running in south Texas. The owner had built a circulating system of pipes suspended about a foot above the bottom of his largest cattle watering pond. The water was a pretty constant temperature around 70 degrees even in the spring and fall because of the local climate. However he didn't use water as his exchange medium, he used Butane. The pressurized liquid would flow out through underground pipes to the pond, pick up heat, be allowed to vaporize in a fluid separator and spin a turbine to generate electricity. The vapor was then cooled by a cold water bath and compressed back into a cold liquid state for reuse. From time to time I have wondered if this guy was the inventor of the ground source heat pumps that seem to have sprung up all over Texas, but I was never able to confirm it.
Scientists in China report the first successful well drilled into hot dry rock in the northwestern part of China. With temperatures at a 236°C, this could provide sufficient for an EGS geothermal project development.
As reported locally, scientists from China are reporting a temperature of 236 degrees Celsius from a well drilled in the Gonghe basin in the northwestern province of Qinghai in China. Drilled to the depth of of 3,705 meters the well is the first drilled in efforts to explore the geothermal hot dry rock potential in China. The recovery of energy from these rock formations can be done through engineered or enhanced geothermal systems (EGS).
Considered as a key potential energy source for the future, this hot dry rock project and its drilling results present a breakthrough in exploration efforts.
It is estimated that China holds 856 trillion tons of hot dry rock, similar to the same resources reported from the United States, according to a spokesperson for the Geological Survey of China’s Ministry of Land and Resources. Scientists estimate that about two percent, or 17 trillion tons are recoverable as energy source.
The nation’s southeast coastal areas, Songliao Plain in the northeast, North China Plain and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau region are key potential areas for exploration and development. The southern plateau, in particular, is said to hold resources of the largest in volume and highest in temperature.
Hot dry rock at a depth of 3,000 to 10,000 meters, is a dense, impermeable, high temperature rock without water or steam.
With technology available today, engineered geothermal systems in those hot dry rocks, could recover energy a temperatures above 150 degrees Celsius, which could be utilised both for power generation and heating.
Energy contained in hot dry rock is considered recoverable, and equivalent to tens of times the energy of the world’s oil, natural gas and coal combined, preliminary calculations suggest.
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
vtsnowedin wrote:That all sounds good but what is the projected cost per KWH produced from the fully developed project? Also why develop geothermal generation in a country that every day exports excess renewable hydro-power?
Still the James Bay La grande four hydro projects on James bay are close enough for Ontario to use that power at a very cheap price and Saskatchewan cities (what few there are) are well within range so it comes down to price for delivered KWH. Without knowing that we can not have an intelligent discussion about the proposal.yellowcanoe wrote:vtsnowedin wrote:That all sounds good but what is the projected cost per KWH produced from the fully developed project? Also why develop geothermal generation in a country that every day exports excess renewable hydro-power?
Power generation is a provincial responsibility. Quebec exports hydroelectric power to several US states but it isn't the norm for Canadian provinces to have a surplus of hydroelectric power. In Ontario where I live, roughly 60% of our generated power is nuclear.
Subjectivist wrote:These books convinced me that history doesn't repeat itself, but human nature drives us to repeat our mistakes generation after generation, civilization after civilization.
Abundant cheap power, would we still be as petty as we seem today? I fear we will/would be those same petty people even in paradise.
If you have to ask you’ll never know because the government is involved, however from the financing it’s just another sucker job for taxpayers. Saskatchewan would be better off importing power from next door Manitoba who are building a large dam project with hopes of exporting power into the US.vtsnowedin wrote:That all sounds good but what is the projected cost per KWH produced from the fully developed project? Also why develop geothermal generation in a country that every day exports excess renewable hydro-power?
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Tanada wrote:Abundant geothermal sounds great, but where does it fit on the renewable scale? If as VT says the only really viable locations are volcanic locations then a geothermal plant should be built in an already exploited area of Yellowstone to provide power to the local ranger facilities. A "micro geothermal plant" just big enough to power the area where the ranger offices and other buildings are located would make a great demo project. Also if they proved it could work drilling down into the hot spot under the Yellowstone Caldera could harness the energy of the volcano and use it to make electricity instead of building up to a future eruption.
Just a thought.
vtsnowedin wrote:Tanada wrote:Abundant geothermal sounds great, but where does it fit on the renewable scale? If as VT says the only really viable locations are volcanic locations then a geothermal plant should be built in an already exploited area of Yellowstone to provide power to the local ranger facilities. A "micro geothermal plant" just big enough to power the area where the ranger offices and other buildings are located would make a great demo project. Also if they proved it could work drilling down into the hot spot under the Yellowstone Caldera could harness the energy of the volcano and use it to make electricity instead of building up to a future eruption.
Just a thought.
Drawing off enough heat from the Caldera's magma pool to change the date of it's next eruption by more then a few minutes would be quite a large undertaking.
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
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