Introduction to Geothermal Energy

Introduction
• Geothermal energy originates from earth’s interior in the form
of heat
• Volcanoes, geysers, hotsprings and boiling mud pots are visible
evidence of the great reservoirs of heat that lies within the
earth
• Geothermal fluids of natural origin have been used for cooking
and bathing since before the beginning of the recorded history
• The early 19th century it was harnessed for industrial purposes
• 1n 1902, electricity was first produced using geothermal steam
at Larderello
 Geothermal fields
• The heat moves from the Earth’s interior towards the surface
where it dissipates, although this fact is generally not noticed. We
are aware of its existence because the temperature of rocks
increases with depth, proving that a geothermal gradient exists:
this gradient averages 30°C/km of depth.
• Although the amount of thermal energy within the earth is very
large, useful geothermal energy is limited to certain sites only, as
it is not feasible to access and extract heat from a very deep
location
• The sites where it is available near the surface and is relatively
more concentrated, its extraction and use may be considered
feasible. These sites are known as geothermal fields.
 Current status
• As per US Geological Survey, the entire heat content of the
earth’s crust up to a depth of 10 km above 15oC is defined as
Geothermal resources
• Geothermal resources is estimated to be more than 2.11 × 1025 J
• This is a huge amount of energy, enough to supply our energy
needs at current rates for 3,50,000 years.
• However, it is a low-grade thermal and its economic recovery is
not feasible everywhere on the surface of the earth
• Practically, it is not the size of the resources that limits its use,
but the availability of technology that can tap the resource in an
economic manner
 Current status …. (cont..)
• Low temperature resources, i.e. geysers have been used from time
immemorial for applications such as hot baths, cooking, space and water
heating
• Most geothermal resources produce low-grade heat at about 50-70oC, which
can be used directly for thermal applications.
• Occasionally, geothermal heat is available at temperature above about 90oC,
and so electrical power production from turbines can be contemplated
• World’s total present installed electrical power generating capacity from
geothermal resources is about 11,224.3 MW (Geothermal Energy
Association (GEA) 2012)
• Direct thermal use installed capacity is 16,649 MW
• Globally, geothermal power is growing steadily at a rate of about 8.5 % per
year.
 World Scenario
United States 3,187 According to the GEA's
Philippines 1,904
Indonesia 1,222 2013 Annual US Geothermal Power Production
Mexico 958 and Development Report (April 2013)
Italy 883
New Zealand 768
: "Installed geothermal capacity increased from
Iceland 661 3,187 MW in early 2012 to 3,386 MW in
Japan 535
El Salvador 204
February of 2013. As the economy recovers
Kenya 202 and the recent language alteration of the PTC
Costa Rica 208
Nicaragua 124 tax credit effects the geothermal industry,
Russia 82 significant growth is expected in 2013 and
Turkey 93
Papua New Guinea 56 subsequent years. From the information GEA
Guatemala 52 gathered from reporting companies, up to 14
Portugal 29
China 24 plants could become operational in 2013 and
France 16
Ethiopia 7
9 new plants in 2014 and 10 more plants in
Germany 7 2015, by over 20 different companies and
Austria 1
Australia 1 organizations making 2013, 2014, and 2015
Thailand 0.3 three of the most significant boom years for
TOTAL: 11,224.3
geothermal in decades.
http://www.geo-energy.org/currentUse.aspx
 Advantages of Geothermal Energy
• It is reliable source of energy
• Available for 24 hours
• Availability is independent on weather
• No extra storage is required
• Little land required
 Disadvantage
• Energy available as low grade heat
• Continuous extraction of heated ground water
may leads to subsidence of land
• Geothermal fluid also brings with it the dissolved
gases and solute which lead to air or water
pollution
• Drilling operation leads to noise pollution
• Corrosive and abrasive geothermal fluid reduces
the life of the plants
Inside the Earth
 Structure of the earth’s interior
• The earth consists of a series of concentric
shells
• Can be divided into three parts
– Crust
– Mantle
– Core
 1. The Core
• Geothermal energy is the heat that originates from the core of
the earth
• The Earth’s core extends from 2900 to 6370 km from the
Earth’s center
• Its thickness, or radius, is 3470 km.
• The temperature in the core should be around 4000°C and the
pressure at the Earth’s centre 3.6 million bar (360,000 MPa).
• The original heat produced from the formation of the earth by
gravitational collapse
• The heat also produced by the radioactive decay of various
isotopes
 2.The mantle
• The core is surrounded by region mantle,
which consists of semifluid material called the
magma
• The mantle lies closer to the Earth’s surface
beneath the ocean (at a depth of 7 km), than
it does beneath the continents (20–65 km)
• It extends from the base of the crust for about
2900 km.
 3.Lithosphere
• The Earth’s crust and uppermost mantle
together form the lithosphere, the outer shell
of the Earth that is relatively rigid and brittle
• The lithosphere (crust and upper mantle) is
about 70 km thick beneath the oceans and
100–125 km thick beneath the continents
 4.Asthenosphere
• The zone, extending to a depth of perhaps 200 km,
or more, from the surface, is called the
asthenosphere.
• Rocks in the asthenosphere may be closer to their
melting point than rocks above or below this zone.
• The lithosphere seems to be in continual movement,
probably as a result of the underlying mantle
convection, and plates of brittle lithosphere probably
move easily over the asthenosphere, which may act
as a lubricating layer below.
 5.The crust
• The Earth’s crust is analogous to the skin of an apple.
• The thickness of the crust is 7 km on average under the ocean
basins, and 20–65 km under the continents
• Wells give us direct access only to the crust, and to depths not
much beyond 10 km.
• Studies of seismic waves have shown that the Earth’s crust is
thinner beneath the oceans than beneath the continents, and that
seismic waves travel faster in oceanic crust than in continental
crust. In part because of this difference in velocity, it is assumed
that the two types of crust are made up of different kinds of rock.
• The denser, oceanic crust is made of basalt, whereas the
continental crust is often referred to as being largely granite.
 Geothermal fields
• There are areas of the Earth’s crust which are accessible by
drilling, and where the gradient is well above the average.
• This occurs when, not far from the surface (a few kilometres)
there are magma bodies undergoing cooling, still in a fluid state
or in the process of solidification, and releasing heat.
• In other areas, where magmatic activity does not exist the heat
accumulation is due to particular geological conditions of the
crust such that the geothermal gradient reaches anomalously
high values.
• The extraction and utilization of this large quantity of heat
requires a carrier to transfer the heat toward accessible depths
beneath the Earth’s surface.
 Geothermal fields (….cont)
• Generally the heat is transferred from depth to sub-surface
regions firstly by conduction and then by convection, with
geothermal fluids acting as the carrier in this case.
• These fluids are essentially rainwater that has penetrated into the
Earth’s crust from the recharge areas, has been heated on contact
with the hot rocks, and has accumulated in aquifers, occasionally
at high pressures and temperatures (up to above 300°C).
• These aquifers (reservoirs) are the essential parts of most
geothermal fields.
• Wells are drilled into the reservoir to extract the hot fluids, and
their use depends on the temperature and pressure of the fluids
A geothermal steamfield with its elements
• Geothermal fields, are generally systems with a continuous
circulation of heat and fluid, where fluid enters the reservoir from
the recharge zones and leaves through discharge areas (hot springs,
wells).
• During industrial exploitation fluids are recharged to the reservoir by
reinjecting through wells the waste fluids from the utilisation plants.
• This reinjection process may compensate for at least part of the
fluid extracted by production, and will to a certain limit prolong the
commercial lifetime of the field.
• Geothermal energy is therefore to some extent a renewable energy
source, hot fluid production rates tend however to be much larger
than recharge rates.
 Plate boundaries
• Earth's crust is broken into huge plates (tectonic plates) that move apart or push
together at about the rate our fingernails grow.
• Convection of semi-molten rock in the upper mantle helps drive plate tectonics. So
these plates are in a state of constant relative motion at several centimeter per year.
• In the plate boundaries earthquake, volcanoes and regions of heat flow are largely
located
• It is near the juctions of these plates that heat travels most rapidly from the interior via
surface magma
• Most of the world’s geothermal sites today are located near the edges of the Pacific
plate, the so called ring of fire
• It starts from New Zealand, encompasses Philippines, Japan, West coasts of North
America and Maxico
• Another belt runs from Iceland touching the British Isles, through Azores across the
Atlantic to the West Indies, with a branch running through the Mediterranean Sea
• Geothermal Sites are also found where collision of continental plates occurs as north
west area of Indian-Australian and Eurasian plates. Himalayan geothermal sites on
Indian and Chinese side are due to this same reason
http://geothermal.marin.org/geopresentation/sld006.htm
 Geothermal resources
• Hydrothermal
– Hot water
– Wet steam
• Vapour dominated resource
• Hot dry rock resource
• Geo-pressured resource
• Magma resource
 1. Hydrothermal resources
• Hot water or steam reservoirs that can be
tapped by drilling to deliver heat to the
surface for thermal use or generation of
electricity
• Examples: Larderallo field in Italy, Wairakei
field in New Zealand and Geysers in California\
– Hot water field
– Wet steam field
 1a)Hot water field
• At these locations hot water below 100oC gushes out as hot spring
• The geothermal aquifers being covered by confining layers keep
the hot water under pressure
• Generally geothermal water contains sulphur in colloidal form
widely used as medicated curative water for skin diseases
• Existing locations in India: Tatapani on the bank of river Sutlej (54
km from Simla), Sahestra Dhara near Dehradun, sacred kund at
Badrinath in uttarakhand, Sohna sulphur water tank in Gurgaon,
Manikaran in Kulu Valley
• Internationally known fields: Pannonian basin in Hungary, Po river
valley (Italy) and Klamath Falls Oregon (USA)
 1b)Wet steam field
• The pressurized water is at more than 100oC and contains
small quantities of steam and vapour
• Liquid is in the dominant phase that controls the pressure in
the reservoir
• Steam occurs in the form of bubbles surrounded by liquid
water
• Sites where the steam escapes through cracks in the surface
are called ‘fumaroles’
• Examples: Los Azufre (Mexico), Puna (Hawaii, USA), Dieng
(Indonesia), Azores (Portugal), Latera (Italy) and Zunil
(Guatemala)
 2. Vapour-dominated resource
• Vapour dominated reservoirs produces dry saturated steam of pressure above the
atmosphere and at high temperature about 350oC.
• Water and steam co-exist, but steam is in dominant phase and regulates pressure in the
reservoir.
• Steam obtained can directly used to drive turbine

3.Hot dry rock resource

• A hot dry rock field also comes under this category. Rock at about 650oC, heated by
conductive heat flow from magma but contains no water
• To tap its energy the impermeable rock is fractured and water is injected to create an
artificial reservoir
• Water circulates and hot fluid returns to the surface through the other drilled well as steam
• Examples: Malsukawa (Japan), the Geysers (California), Mt. Amiata (Italy), Kamojang
(Indonesia)
 4. Geopressured resource
• Geopressured resouces contain moderate
temperature brine (160oC) containing
dissolved methane
• These are trapped under high pressure
(nearly 1000 bar)
• Example: Off-shore wells in Texas and
Louisiana at the US Gulf Coast zone (depth
6570 m)
 5. Magma
• Magma is a molten rock at temperature ranging
from 700oC to 1600oC
• This hot viscous liquid comes out at active
volcanic vents and solidifies
• It may form reservoirs at some depth from the
earth’s surface
• Magma Chambers represents huge energy
source, but the existing technology does not
allow recovery of heat from these resources
 Geothermal Power Generation
• Electric power from geothermal resources can
be developed in the following manner
• Vapour-dominated resource
• Liquid-dominated resource
– Flashed steam system
– Binary cycle system
1.Vapour-dominated geothermal power plant

• Steam is extracted from the geothermal wells, passed through a

separator to remove particulate contents and flows directly to a steam
turbine
• Steam that operates the turbine coupled with the generator is at a
temperature of about 245oC and pressure 7 kg/cm2 (7 bar) which are
less than those in conventional steam cycle plants(540oC and 130
kg/cm2). Thus, the efficiency of geothermal plants is low, i.e. about 20
%
• Exhaust steam from the turbine passes through a condenser and the
water so formed circulates thorugh the cooling tower
• Waste water from the cooling tower sump is reinjected into the
geothermal well to ensure continuous supply
• Larderallo Italy and Geysers in California
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/geothermal/powerplants.html

Dry steam power plants at The Geysers in California.

Vapour-dominated geothermal power plant

http://indianpowersector.com/home/renewable-energy/geothermal/
 2.Liquid dominated resource
2a) Flashed steam power plant
• Flash steam plants are the most common type of geothermal power generation
plants in operation today
• Geothermal fluid is the mixture of steam and brine
• Fluid at temperatures greater than 182°C is pumped under high pressure into a
tank at the surface held at a much lower pressure, causing some of the fluid to
rapidly vaporize, or "flash”.
• The vapor (dry saturated steam) then drives a turbine, which drives a generator.
• If any liquid remains in the tank, it can be flashed again in a second tank to
extract even more energy.
• Hot brine from the flash chamber and the turbine discharge from the condenser
are reinjected into the ground
• Reinjuction of the spent brine ensures a continuous supply of geothermal fluid
from the well
Flashed steam power plant

http://indianpowersector.com/home/renewable-energy/geothermal/
 Binary Cycle Power Plant

• These plants are used when geothermal fluid is hot water with
temperature less than 100oC
• Binary cycle geothermal power generation plants differ from Dry
Steam and Flash Steam systems in that the water or steam from
the geothermal reservoir never comes in contact with the
turbine/generator units.
• Heat from the geothermal fluid causes the secondary fluid
(working fluid) to flash to vapor, which then drives the turbines
and subsequently, the generators.
• Exhaust vapour is condensed in a water-cooled condenser and
recycled through a heat exchanger.
• 11 MW plant in California and 10 MW at Raft River USA operate
on binary cycle
• Binary cycle power plants are closed-loop systems and virtually
nothing (except water vapor) is emitted to the atmosphere.
http://indianpowersector.com/home/renewable-energy/geothermal/
 Barriers
• Finding a suitable build location.
• Energy source such as wind, solar and hydro are more popular and better
established; these factors could make developers decided against geothermal.
• Main disadvantages of building a geothermal energy plant mainly lie in the
exploration stage, which can be extremely capital intensive and high-risk; many
companies who commission surveys are often disappointed, as quite often, the
land they were interested in, cannot support a geothermal energy plant.
• Some areas of land may have the sufficient hot rocks to supply hot water to a
power station, but many of these areas are located in harsh areas of the world
(near the poles), or high up in mountains.
• Harmful gases can escape from deep within the earth, through the holes
drilled by the constructors. The plant must be able to contain any leaked gases,
but disposing of the gas can be very tricky to do safely.
 Global Scenario
• Geothermal energy supplies more than 10,715 MW to 24 countries worldwide which is expected to
generate 67,246 GWh of electricity in 2010 and produces enough electricity to meet the needs of 60
million people and another 22 countries will add to the list in 2010 (source: International Geothermal
Association).
• An additional 28 gigawatts of direct geothermal heating capacity is installed for district heating, space
heating, industrial processes, desalination and agricultural applications. This renewable energy source also
has the potential to provide significant opportunities to do businesses both small and large.
• It is considered possible to produce up to 8.3% of the total world electricity with geothermal resources,
serving 17% of the world population.
• According to market studies, investment in geothermal energy is growing globally at 24% a year. This
exceptional investing growth rate is expected to continue – and increase even faster – for the foreseeable
future.
• In 2010, the United States led the world in geothermal electricity production with 3,086 MW of installed
capacity from 77 power plants.
• The largest group of geothermal power plants in the world is located at The Geysers, a geothermal field
in California.
• The Philippines is the second highest producer, with1,904 MW of capacity online. Geothermal power
makes up approximately 18% of the country’s electricity generation. Also in Indonesia 5% of overall
electricity generation is from geothermal energy.
• Geothermal electric plants were traditionally built exclusively on the edges of tectonic plates where high
temperature geothermal resources are available near the surface. The development of binary cycle power
plants and improvements in drilling and extraction technology enable enhanced geothermal systems over
a much greater geographical range. Demonstration projects are operational inLandau-Pfalz, Germany,
and Soultz-sous-Forêts, France, while an earlier effort in Basel, Switzerland was shut down after it
triggered earthquakes. Other demonstration projects are under construction in Australia, the United
 Indian Scenario
• India has reasonably good potential for geothermal; the potential
geothermal provinces can produce 10,600 MW of power.
• Though India has been one of the earliest countries to begin
geothermal projects way back in the 1970s, but at present there are no
operational geothermal plants in India. There is also no installed
geothermal electricity generating capacity as of now and only direct
uses (eg.Drying) have been detailed.
• Thermax, a capital goods manufacturer based in Pune, has entered
an agreement with Icelandic firm Reykjavík Geothermal. Thermax is
planning to set up a 3 MW pilot project in Puga Valley, Ladakh (Jammu
& Kashmir). Reykjavík Geothermal will assist Thermax in exploration
and drilling of the site.
• India’s Gujarat state is drafting a policy to promote geothermal energy
• Puga Valley (J&K)
• Tatapani (Chhattisgarh)
• Godavari Basin Manikaran (Himachal Pradesh)
• Bakreshwar (West Bengal)
• Tuwa (Gujarat)
• Unai (Maharashtra)
• Jalgaon (Maharashtra)
• The various assessment studies and surveys undertaken so far have
resulted in the identification of 340 hot springs across India. The
discovery of vast geothermal reservoirs at Puga in the north-west of
the Himalayas and Tatapani fields on the Narmada in central India
also augurs well for the country.
 Potential Geothermal regions/sources in
India

Province Surface Temp C Reservoir Temp C Heat Flow Thermal gradient

Himalaya >90 260 468 100

Cambay 40-90 150-175 80-93 70

West coast 46-72 102-137 75-129 47-59

Sonata 60 – 95 105-217 120-290 60-90

Godavari 50-60 175-215 93-104 60

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