Briefly, geothermal power is thermal energy derived from the Earth’s geology. It is produced by drilling wells deep into the earth and tapping into underground heat, through naturally occurring steam or other heated fluids, to generate electricity. The use of geothermal power has grown steadily over the last several decades, reaching 10.7 GW of installed capacity worldwide in 2010. Pike Research forecasts that by 2020 global installed capacity will reach 25 GW.

For the moment, however, the barriers to new geothermal development are high. The biggest hurdle is access to financing; investors are wary because geothermal exploration carries a high resource risk (not all exploratory drilling leads to commercially productive resources) and long timelines for development. From discovery to commercial product can take as long as seven years; wind and solar farms, by contrast, can be up and running within two years.

Once operational, however, geothermal projects can provide clean, cheap power for decades.

Enhanced technology offers breakthroughs

While the geothermal power industry has been hit hard by the global recession–2010 saw only one plant come online in the United States–activity is expected to pick up sharply in the next few years. California, which boasts the strongest geothermal industry in the U.S., will see five new geothermal projects come online in the Salton Sea area, in Imperial County, in 2012.

What’s more, the advent of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS), which have the ability to tap deep, unconventional resources as opposed to the relatively shallow geothermal heat found in regions of volcanic and tectonic activity, promises to make many hundreds of megawatts available in the coming decade.

Countries with ample shallow geothermal resources, such as the United States, Indonesia, and the Philippines, are the primary focus of current production and development; but EGS, if it can be economically proven, promises to unlock geothermal energy from a wide range of countries and geologies. For that reason, geothermal energy is expected to increase as a percentage of the worldwide renewable energy mix, as growth accelerates in countries looking to exploit domestic resources.

Three countries in particular are poised to realize dramatic growth in their utilization of domestic geothermal resources: Australia, Kenya and Chile.

Although lacking the volcanic geothermal resources of some of its neighbors in the South Pacific (i.e., New Zealand, Philippines, and Indonesia), Australia is ground zero for the development of EGS technology. Currently, more than 50 companies exploring geothermal projects in Australia have taken out over 400 licenses for areas covering nearly 500,000 square kilometers, a combined area roughly the size of Spain. The Australian Geothermal Energy Association (AGEA) believes that, under current government incentives, the country could develop 2.2 GW of geothermal power by 2020.

With its power grid struggling to keep pace with rising demand, Kenya hopes to expand geothermal generating capacity by 4 GW over the next 20 years. Already the center of geothermal activity on the African continent and the target of significant foreign investment, the country currently generates 167 MW of geothermal power at the Olkaria geothermal field. Kenya’s potential geothermal resources are vast: the Rift Valley, in the western part of the country bordering Uganda, contains a projected seven to 10 GW of power potential.

In 2010, the energy minister of Chile, Ricardo Raineri, announced that the country would invest over $200 million in geothermal power projects and granted over 170 concessions to geothermal developers through 2012. Despite strong economic growth over the last decade, Chile’s geothermal resources remain untapped. The Chilean government hopes to increase the country’s geothermal capacity by more than 1 GW and eventually generate 20% of its electrical power from geothermal resources.

The geothermal industry in the United States, meanwhile, is the world’s most developed, with just over 3 MW of installed capacity. Currently 188 projects in 15 states are moving forward, with the potential to triple U.S. geothermal generating capacity. Pike Research believes that the United States could add up to 5.8 GW over the next decade. The major players with interests in geothermal, both U.S. and worldwide, include Chevron and Calpine.

For utilities, geothermal presents an appealing renewable option with sizable upfront risks. Geothermal power is not sporadic; the scale of the resources is huge; the fuel cost, once plants are built, is zero. Financing, transmission issues, exploration uncertainty and public opposition, however, all present significant downsides to aggressive development of geothermal resources in the near term. The successful development of economically viable EGS technology will go a long way toward allaying those concerns.

About the Author

Richard Martin is the editorial director of Pike Research. His writing on the future of energy has appeared in Time, Fortune, Wired, The Atlantic, The Asian Wall Street Journal and many other publications. His book on thorium power will be published by Macmillan Science in April 2012.

Source: www.fierceenergy.com

During the first three months of 2011, energy produced from renewable energy sources (biomass/biofuels, geothermal, solar, hydro, wind) generated 2.245 quadrillion Btus of energy equating to 11.73 percent of U.S. energy production. During this same time period, renewable energy production surpassed nuclear energy power by 5.65 percent. In total, energy produced from renewables is 77.15 percent of that from domestic crude oil production.

When looking at all energy sectors, production of renewable energy has increased by a little over 15 percent when compared to first quarter of 2010, and by more than 25 percent when compared to the first quarter of 2009. Of this total, biomass/biofuels accounted for approximately 48 percent of this total followed by hydropower at 35.41 percent, wind at 12.87 percent, geothermal at 2.45 percent and lastly solar at 1.16 percent.

Despite a seemingly low number for solar power, when compared to first quarter last year, solar power has increased by 104.8 percent while wind power increased by 40.3 percent. Hydropower and geothermal energy also increased by 28.7 percent and 5.8 percent respectively. While nuclear energy has seen a slight increase in power generation, for the most part it has remained steady.

“Notwithstanding the recent nuclear accident in Japan, among many others, and the rapid growth in energy and electricity from renewable sources, congressional Republicans continue to press for more nuclear energy funding while seeking deep cuts in renewable energy investments,” said Ken Bossong, Executive Director of the SUN DAY Campaign. “One has to wonder ‘what are these people thinking?’

Source: www.domesticfuel.com

The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has confirmed it is planning to publish a report in the next few weeks by consultancy Arup, examining the costs and deployment potential of every technology eligible for the Renewables Obligation (RO) subsidy mechanism. The findings will feed into a fast-track consultation due to be launched in July, which will determine new banding levels for the RO from 2013.

Despite the fact that the government has yet to confirm any specific recommendations, Climate Change Minister Greg Barker has already indicated he is keen to raise the level of support for deep geothermal energy projects through both the RO and the planned Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).

“Deep geothermal energy is an exciting renewable energy source with considerable unexploited potential,” he said. “We are currently reviewing the support given to all renewables technologies under the RO, including geothermal.”

Currently, deep geothermal generators in England and Wales receive two RO certificates (ROCs) per megawatt hour (MW/h) generated. However, developers argue that level is insufficient to drive the investment required to kickstart the industry and help realise the full potential of deep geothermal in the UK.

The Renewable Energy Association’s Geothermal Group has been lobbying DECC to double the level of support to four ROCs per MW/h. Stuart Pocock, REA technical director, told BusinessGreen the group has received encouraging signals from government that it could boost support for deep geothermal.

“We have had various meetings with DECC [and] have received positive noises from them that they see deep geothermal as a significant source of renewable energy generation and they are sympathetic to the argument,” he said. Although he insisted DECC has not confirmed if it is prepared to make the changes being called for.

The government has come under increasing pressure from the industry to increase its support for deep geothermal power, especially after it halved the Deep Geothermal Energy Fund from £2m to £1m in September last year.

There is currently just one deep geothermal power plant operating in the UK, through the Southampton Geothermal District Heating Scheme. However, DECC’s 2050 Pathways Analysis has predicted geothermal energy could potentially generate 35TWh, or 10 per cent of current annual electricity demand; two per cent of which could come from the South West of England.

Source: www.businessgreen.com

As the U.S. Congress debates an energy and climate bill, government organizations and corporations are assessing renewable energy alternatives. Which are the most efficient and improving the fastest? According to a new study from NYU’s Stern school of Business, geothermal and wind energy are more efficient, and are yielding greater returns on the R&D invested in them, than most other renewable energy alternatives.

NYU Stern Professor Melissa Schilling, an expert in strategic management and technology and innovation management, finds that the cost of generating electricity with geothermal or wind energy is a fraction of the cost of solar energy. More important, the performance of both is improving much more per dollar of R&D invested in them than solar technologies. This is the first study to explore the trajectory of performance improvement of renewable energy alternatives.

Schilling examined data on government R&D investment and technological improvement and found taht geothermal energy is the most efficient renewable energy alternative and is improving the fastest. Wind energy is second.

In addition, fossil fuel technologies are no longer improving (in terms of efficiency) much–if at all. These technologies have likely reached their performance limits, though the government still spends far more on them.

According to stern, geothermal energy could become cheaper than fossil fuels with R&D spending of as little as $3.3 billion.

Both geothermal and wind energy technologies have been underfunded by national governments relative to funding for solar technologies, and government funding of fossil fuel technologies might be excessive given their diminishing performance, the report concludes.

The full paper was recently published in Energy Policy and is available at: http://w4.stern.nyu.edu/news/docs/JEPO_Technology_S_Curves.pdf.