FAQ

What is the footprint of a geothermal power plant?

The footprint of a geothermal power plant is the smallest. A plant requires 7.5 km2 per TW*hr/year compared to natural gas at a little over 18.6 km2 per TW*hr/year or coal at 9.7 km2 per TW*hr/year.

Do you have to have a hot springs to get geothermal?

No, geothermal binary plants can run on 57c hot water. Oil wells produce nine times more water than oil or gas, and most of the water are above 57c. So where you have drilled an oil well likely you have geothermal plant resources.

How Many Jobs Come From Geothermal Energy

The geothermal industry creates 11 times more jobs for every MW of power than the gas industry.

Does it take a long time to build a geothermal power plant?

There are a number of equipment suppliers that have the necessary equipment easily available. The estimated time to build a geothermal plant is around 18 months.

What are the Emission from a Geothermal power plant?

The emission from geothermal plants is water vapour. The water vapour is generated by the evaporative cooling system. The CO2 emission from a binary geothermal plant, a modern plant, is nearly zero. In the case of modern binary geothermal plants, there are no emissions.

Can a geothermal plant offset CO2 emissions?

In Nevada, a 300MW geothermal plan likely saves 4.5 million barrels of oil or 2.25 tonnes of CO2, which are equivalent to the emissions of 100,000 cars.

Do geothermal plants use a lot of water?

In most modern geothermal power plants the water used to produce the heat is injected back into the ground where it came from, this is done to ensure that the resource is renewable. Geothermal plants can use and clean damaged surface water or wastewater, and some studies show condensation during the process could be used to produce potable water.

How Cheap is Goethermal Energy

Can geothermal waters be used for other purposes?

Yes, in some plants minerals are extracted from the water before it is returned to the earth. Minerals that can be economically retrieved from geothermal water are Lithium, boron, zinc, chlorine, sodium, potassium, etc. The geothermal plant at the Salton Sea is currently facilitating the production of Lithium and other minerals.

How many countries have geothermal electric plants connected to their electrical grids?

Geothermal electrical plants have been connected to the grid for over 100 years and are found in 24 countries: USA, Philippines, Indonesia, Mexico, Italy, New Zealand, Iceland, Japan, Kenya, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Turkey, Nicaragua, Russia, Papua New Guinea, Guatemala, Portugal, China, France, Ethiopia, Germany, Austria, Australia and Thailand.

Do geothermal electric plants increase seismic activity?

As most plants reinject water back into the earth there is no real change in the structure of the resource, so it is unlikely that there would be any change in seismic patterns of the area resulting from the plant.

Is Geothermal a Constant Energy Source

Geothermal is a constant energy source 24 hours a day 7 days a week. In fact it is more constant than the fossil fuel sources we need to stop consuming.