A California public utility recently approved a 1,900-acre lease for an Australian company to develop a 250 MW geothermal plant in one of the state’s most geothermal-rich areas, the Salton Sea, the Desert Sun reports, giving hope to environmental advocates who see development as a key source for funding for restoration.
Operational geothermal plants are partnered with companies who are extracting valuable minerals from the geothermal liquid before it is re injected into the geothermal reservoir. The benefits are extensive as indicated in Stanford Research.
Conclusion of the Stanford Research
Mineral Extraction can provide a number of economic benefits to geothermal energy extraction whether it is for power or direct use applications. The ability to remove silica can allow for added energy extraction, reduce operation and maintenance cost and open the way for the recovery of such metals as zinc, lithium, manganese, cesium, rubidium and even precious metals such as gold, silver and platinum. The risk, however, is that the tremendous amounts of some metals such as lithium in geothermal brines, for example at the Salton Sea, could well exceed worldwide demand and result in driving the market price down to uneconomical levels.
The ability to use geothermal brine for enhanced evaporative cooling of binary plants could well provide an additional incentive to find viable methods for silica removal.
Mineral Extraction can provide a number of economic benefits to geothermal energy extraction whether it is for power or direct use applications. The ability to remove silica can allow for added energy extraction, reduce operation and maintenance cost and open the way for the recovery of such metals as zinc, lithium, manganese, cesium, rubidium and even precious metals such as gold, silver and platinum. The risk, however, is that the tremendous amounts of some metals such as lithium in geothermal brines, for example at the Salton Sea, could well exceed worldwide demand and result in driving the market price down to uneconomical levels.
The ability to use geothermal brine for enhanced evaporative cooling of binary plants could well provide an additional incentive to find viable methods for silica removal.
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