April 2010 Archives

The economics are looking favorable for a 160 Mw geothermal power plant estimated to cost $760 million. Compare that to an estimate for a 47 Mw biomass plant planned for Greenfield, MA at $240 million. (3 x 47= 141 Mw and 3x 240= $720 million) The estimated cost for geothermal is about the same. With no cost for fuel, there are only maintenance, employee and construction finance expenses. The maintenance expense is estimated to be comparable to that of hydro electric.

The geography is flexible a road is good, a rail line would be ideal. The first one built should be in a low population area close to 160-1,400 Mw power lines.

Most important is geology and type of rock. Large granite formations like the Warwick, Pelham and Fitchburg domes have good potential. These domes are massive and extend across a number of towns. Rock type is important for thermal diffusivity and quartzite granite formations with large crystal structure (not uncommon in New England) can be some of the best types of rock for thermal diffusivity.

The geology of how the rock was formed is also important. Numerous granitic plutonic masses in New England are believed by many geologists to have been formed by melting through the early basalt granites when the continents were being formed. This gives them a direct connection to deeper and hotter rocks.

Here is a little side history about the development of geothermal that most people do not know: D.O.E. is supporting geothermal research called E.G.S. This concept is based on the idea of expanding geothermal geyser fields with hydro fracturing. It only works well if you have the right conditions for a geyser field. This concept is the preferred option if you have those rare conditions; however with increased depth this idea becomes increasingly problematic. 

The next generation of geothermal power plant we believe will be a quantum step forward for the geothermal industry. We call it C.L.E.M. (short for Closed Loop Energy Mine). This will come about when people start to understand that the thermal diffusivity of a rock formation and geological connection to deeper/larger heat supplies are more valuable. This quantum step is based on the idea of designing for an optimal recharge rate. The better the recharge rate is of a geothermal system, the less surface area the underground thermal exchange system would require. Smaller can also translates into lower cost to build per unit of power producing capacity.

It may be discovered that New England has some of the best granitic formations for this concept. East Coast geothermal economic potential may be greater than most people ever imagined, due to some of these granitic domes. In short, a closed loop geothermal system of interconnecting pipes could be built in almost any rock formation, but the amount of electricity it could produce is tied to the system's ability to recharge.  

Using the geothermal system called E.G.S., the rate of recharge is not important for most people. With E.G.S., porous hot rocks close to the surface are the prime determining factors in evaluating a geothermal resource. These systems are designed to use up a geothermal resource over 30 years and then be decommissioned, so it does not matter if the resource takes as much as 300 years to fully recharge.       

This 30 year plan works, but only serves one generation. There is nothing left for the next generation to build on, old systems have to be demolished. Every generation has the burden of building new power plants and or well fields. Large hydro electric power plants like the Hoover Dam have stimulated economic growth for generations and it is unlikely they would have been built if all we could do was a 30 year lifespan plan.

The proposed C.L.E.M 160 Mw geothermal project could be expanded to 1,400 Mw as demand increased, producing and selling electricity for around $.05/Kwhr. and doing that for generations. Not having to build new power plants saves massive amounts of resources. These savings and other products produced with a stable supply of electricity makes possible long-term stable economic growth.   

The Feingold-Ensign Support Renewable Energy Act, if signed into law, would require that all forms of renewable energy meet a new federal requirement, called the renewable electricity standard (RES). Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and John Ensign (R-NV) have collaborated to sponsor this bill, which would be very good for the Geothermal Electric Generation community.

EnergyBoom.com reports:

Current RES proposals in Congress require utilities to use a certain amount of renewable energy, but limit the types of renewable energy that would qualify. This bill would allow all forms of renewable energy to qualify, such as small-scale renewable technologies that directly use renewable energy like solar water heating, geothermal heating, or alternative lighting technologies.

According to Feingold, as Congress considers reforming American energy policies, instead of picking winners and losers, it should be encouraging all types of renewable energy.

Atlantic Geothermal encourages all supporters of clean, green, alternative energy to call their senators and representatives and urge them to support this bill. The time is running out for creative solutions to today's energy problems that are going to help with the global warming / climate change problem the Earth faces today. If we wait too long, it will be too late.

This bill is a serious attempt to address many of the structural impediments that keep green energy from being commercially viable. Subsidies for the Oil, Coal, Nuclear, and non-green energy sector keep the market price for energy produced by these technologies artificially low. If it wasn't for the Price-Anderson Act, for instance, the number of commercial nuclear power plants that would have been built in the United States would have been ZERO. The insurance companies weren't going to insure them. Without insurance, they couldn't be built, because no banks would finance them. The congress had to step in and shield the insurance companies from liability should a total disaster happen.

That's right, the US taxpayer gets to subsidize the nuclear power industry if anything melts down. Actuaries can do math pretty well, and they new the risk was WELL above zero, which is what the early promoters of nuclear power would have had us believe.

Nuclear is NOT the answer. Large-scale geothermal electric generation using the CLEM geothermal model IS the answer, in our opinion, and we think this bill will help make that a reality.

There's a lot of activity going on in the Geothermal Energy sector with regards to venture capital technology investment. A recent article in The Market Oracle catalogs these trends and analyzes them in some detail. They say:

Dr. Marc Bustin, Ph.D., FRSC, Casey Research Energy Team writes: The geothermal industry has been taking one step forward and two steps back over the last year. On the forward side are grants and interest-free loans aplenty, particularly from governments wanting to jump on the green-energy bandwagon. Pushing back is not only some tough geology with deep, dry-rock drilling projects, but also the public fear of earthquakes along with other environmental issues.

Overall, what we're seeing is a reality check for geothermal energy. It still leads the pack among the alternative energies as a sustainable source of base-load energy with no storage requirements. However, making the leap from tapping natural reservoirs to actually creating them, as EGS (enhanced geothermal systems) projects are trying to do, is proving harder than a lot of people have thought.

There is definitely a potential of earthquakes occurring in geothermal areas - case in point: the tremors at the Geox project in Landau, Germany. That was neither the first nor last time that these rumblings and geothermal projects have happened in the same neighborhood; after all, areas where hot rocks occur relatively near the surface also tend to be areas prone to earthquakes. The EGS process of fracturing rock layers via hydraulic pressure, necessary to inject and heat the water before pumping it back up, can also trigger seismic shifts in underground rocks.

This article points out the need for venture capitalists to consider alternative forms of Geothermal Electrical Generation besides EGS. Atlantic Geothermal's CLEM (Closed Loop Energy Mine) Technology successfully addresses the major issues connected to EGS, like earthquake risk and eventual depletion of the resource (which renders capital investments of hundreds of millions of dollars worthless once that happens).

We recommend our readers review these plans and support our efforts to get them more investment and attention from government funding agencies. Geothermal Power has the potential to revolutionize Green Energy Production if it's done correctly, and soon enough.

It's always a happy circumstance when you can solve two problems with one solution, especially if both are big, seemingly intractable, problems.

This is the case with both the challenge of slowing/stopping the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and creating good, high-paying, secure jobs for our population.

Fortunately, a massive investment in training and infrastructure, and continuing support for installation, of Green Energy Technologies can do just this. Green Energy is the wave of the future, and all the leading economists around the world acknowledge this. In a report by the Union of Concerned Scientists, it states:

Renewable energy has been one of the bright spots for the struggling U.S. economy. In 2007 and 2008, more wind power was installed in the United States than in the previous 20 years combined, representing a $27 billion investment. More than 70 wind turbine component manufacturing facilities opened, expand-ed, or were announced. Moreover, according to their respective trade associations, the U.S. wind industry employed 85,000 people in 2008, up 35,000 from 2007, and the solar energy industry employed more than 80,000 people, up more than 15,000 from 2006.

According to new analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), a national standard that would require all electric utilities to increase their use of renewable electricity to at least 25 percent by 2025 would create more "green" jobs, lower consumer energy bills in every region of the country, and reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) and other harmful emissions from power plants--the biggest source of global warming pollution in the United States.

We strongly agree with the UCS and are actively engaged in lobbying for increased government support for these activities, particularly the generation of electricity through innovative use of geothermal power.

We encourage everyone to contact their representatives and urge them to support Green Energy development.