Energy and the New Reality, Volume 2:

C-Free Energy Supply

Chapter 5: Geothermal Energy

L. D. Danny Harvey
harvey@geog.utoronto.ca

Publisher: Earthscan, UK
Homepage: www.earthscan.co.uk/?tabid=101808

This material is intended for use in lectures, presentations and as

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Please see www.earthscan.co.uk for contact details.
 The temperature increases
with increasing depth in the Earth’s
crust at a typical rate of 20 K/km
 Types of geothermal resources:

• Hydrothermal – hot water or steam in

confined aquifers, under pressure
• Geopressurized – hot, high-pressure
brines (saline water) with dissolved
methane
• Hot dry rock (or “enhanced geothermal
systems”, EGS)
• Magma
 Figure 5.1 A hydrothermal geothermal resource

Source: Barbier (2002, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 6, 63–65, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/13640321)
 Geothermal energy can be used:

• Directly for heating

• To generate electricity
Geothermal Energy For Electricity Generation (1990-2014)

Source: Renewable Energy World, May-June 2016

Existing and planned (as of end-of-2015) geothermal electricity
generation capacity by country

Source: "2016 Annual US and Global Geothermal Power Production Report"

 Figure 5.2 Agricultural uses of heat

Drying of fish meal

Fresh water by distillation
Sugar pulp drying
Blanching and cooking
Drying fruits and vegetables
Sugar beet extraction
Pasteurization
Mushroom cultivation
Food processing
Heating greenhouses
Biogas processing
Aquaculture
Soil heating

0 30 60 90 120 150 180

Temperature (oC)
 Figure 5.3a US subsurface temperature
at a depth of 6.5 km

Source: MIT (2006, The Future of Geothermal Energy: Impact of Enhanced Geothermal systems
(EGS) on the United States in the 21st Century)
 Figure 5.3b Temperatures encountered at a depth
of 5 km in Europe

Source: GAC (2006, Trans-Mediterranean Interconnection for Concentrating Solar Power, Final
Report, GAC)
 Figure 5.4a Creil geothermal district heating (near Paris)

Source: Brown (1996, Renewable Energy, Power for a Sustainable Future, Oxford University Press, Oxford)
 Figure 5.4b Creil geothermal district heating

Note the use of a heat pump to extract extra heat from the 35⁰C water returning
from the top set of 2000 apartments, allowing another 2000 apartments to be
heated while making the return flow even colder (10⁰C). The colder return flow
allows more heat to be extracted from the hot (60⁰C) water taken from the ground
before it is returned than would otherwise be possible (the geothermal loop is
in contact with 10⁰C water instead of 35⁰C water, and so is cooled down to 25⁰C).

Source: Brown (1996, Renewable Energy, Power for a Sustainable Future, Oxford University Press, Oxford)
 Technologies for converting
geothermal heat into electricity:

• Dry steam
• Single, double and triple flash
- both of these are suited for high-
__temperature resources
• Binary cycle/organic Rankine cycle
- can use low-temperature resources (down
__to 100⁰C)
 Figure 5.5a Dry steam geothermal power
air and
water
generator vapour
turbine
condenser
cooling
steam tower
air air

water
hot
well
condensate

geothermal zone

production well injection well

(a) dry steam power plant

Source: Brown (1996, Renewable Energy, Power for a Sustainable Future, Oxford University Press, Oxford)
The purpose of the cooling tower shown in the
previous slide is to make the steam exiting
from the turbine as cool as possible, so that it has
low pressure – this allows more energy (as
electricity) to be extracted from the turbine). The
cooling tower produces cool water by forcing
evaporation of some of the water that is fed to it.
The water lost through evaporation needs to be
continuously replaced.

(cooling towers are used in coal and nuclear power

plants, which also have steam turbines)
Geothermal power plant with cooling tower
Geothermal power plant with cooling towers
 Figure 5.5b Single-flash geothermal power

air and
water
generator vapour
turbine
condenser
cooling
steam tower
air air
water
steam hot
condensate well
brine waste brine direct
heat
uses

geothermal zone

production well injection well

(b) single flash steam power plant

Source: Brown (1996, Renewable Energy, Power for a Sustainable Future, Oxford University Press, Oxford)
 Figure 5.5c Binary-cycle geothermal power
(there are two completely separate flow loops, where only
heat is transferred between them in a heat exchanger)
air and
water
generator vapour
turbine
condenser
iso-butane
cooling
(vapour) tower
iso-butane
air air

heat exchanger water

hot brine

geothermal zone

production well injection well

(c) binary cycle power plant

Source: Brown (1996, Renewable Energy, Power for a Sustainable Future, Oxford University Press, Oxford)
 Figure 5.5d Double-flash geothermal power
2nd stage
1st stage air and
turbine water
turbine generator vapour

condenser
cooling
separators steam tower
air air

water
steam steam
condensate hot direct
brine brine well heat
uses

geothermal zone

production well injection well

(d) double flash power plant

Source: Brown (1996, Renewable Energy, Power for a Sustainable Future, Oxford University Press, Oxford)
 Figure 5.6 Enhanced geothermal system (EGS)

Source: Mock et al (1997, Annual Review of Energy and Environment 22, 305–356)
 Drilling:
• To a depth of 10 km is possible
• 6 km might be a limit to the depth that is economical

The USGS estimated that EGS between depths of 3-km could supply
500 GW of power (compared to about 1000 GW total power
capacity today in the US).

Exploration costs can add up to 15% of the total cost of a geothermal

project, and the success rates in the early stages can be only 50-
60% - so early-stage government support is needed to reduce
financial risks to investors
 Figure 5.7a CO2 emissions
CO2 emissions in g/kWh
g/kWh
1042
906

GEOTHERMAL FOSSIL
453
380
272
175
96
13 33

Wairakei Tiwi
NZ Philipp.
Krafla
Iceland Nat. Gas
Oil
Cerro Prieto
Mexico
Coal

The Geysers
USA Larderello
Italy

Source: Barbier (2002, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 6, 63–65, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/13640321)
 Figure 5.7b S emissions
Sulphur emissions in g/kWh
g/kWh
11 11

GEOTHERMAL FOSSIL

6.4
6.0

4.2
3.5

1.9

0.5
0.005

Wairakei Larderello
NZ Italy Broadlands
The Geysers NZ
USA
Cerro Prieto Oil
Mexico
Coal
Krafla
Iceland
Nat. Gas

Source: Barbier (2002, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 6, 63–65, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/13640321)
 Figure 5.10 Amount of heat available at different
temperatures and at different depths below the US land surface
1600000

1400000 3.5 km
4.5 km
5.5 km
1200000
6.5 km
7.5 km
Heat Content (EJ)

1000000 8.5 km
9.5 km
800000

600000

400000

200000

0
150 200 250 300 350
Temperature (oC) at Indicated Depth
Temperature Label is Centred at 6.5 km bar

By comparison, total world energy use of all kinds is about 600 EJ/yr

Source: MIT (2006, The Future of Geothermal Energy: Impact of Enhanced Geothermal systems (EGS) on the United States in the 21st Century)
 Cost of geothermal power:
• The US Department of Energy website gives a capital cost of $3000-
5000/kW for small (< 1 MW) powerplants
• Maintenance costs of 1-3 cents/kWh
• Capacity factor of 0.9 (running the plant more than 90% of the time
increases unit maintenance costs)
• Result (depending on interest rate and project lifespan):
__3-10 cents/kWh

(by comparison, both solar PV and onshore wind capital costs are now
$1000-2000/kW, but these plants have lower capacity factors)

However, the given geothermal costs do not include exploration costs and
interest incurred during the project development

Source: https://energy.gov/eere/geothermal/geothermal-faqs#cost_to_develop_geothermal_power_plant
 Development of geothermal energy is risky,
so investors expect higher returns

Source: Nathwani and Mines (2015), https://pangea.stanford.edu/ERE/db/WGC/papers/WGC/2015/04022.pdf

The “discount rate” is the same as the interest that has to be
paid to investors at this stage, and the interest incurred is
compounded. Because the early stages occur several years
before the project is ready to start producing and selling
electricity, and the interest rate is large, these early stages
contribute a lot to the final cost of electricity.
Source: Nathwani and Mines (2015), https://pangea.stanford.edu/ERE/db/WGC/papers/WGC/2015/04022.pdf
Sample cost breakdown, for a 30-MW single flash powerplant operating for
30 years, with wells drilled to a depth of 2 km and 200⁰C:

• Exploration, $3.7 million

• Confirmation, $29.2 million
• Well field development, $49.9 million
• Power plant, $71.1 million
• Total, $155.5 million
• Total with contingencies, $178.8 million
• Total with contingencies and accumulated interest on the loans up to
the point of startup, $210.4 million

This is a cost of $7000/kW, of which direct construction cost is $4000/kW

The final cost of electricity is 10.9 cents/kWh, of which 2.4 cents/kWh are
for O&M, insurance, and taxes.
 Dependence of costs in the previous example on the
temperature at the 2-km depth

(“overnight” cost means the cost without any interest incurred during construction
– as if the project could be built overnight and then immediately start selling electricity)

Source: Nathwani and Mines (2015), https://pangea.stanford.edu/ERE/db/WGC/papers/WGC/2015/04022.pdf

 From the previous slide, we see that

• The warmer the resource, the lower the cost (with hotter
water fed into the turbine, the efficiency is higher – so
more electricity is produced, thus lowering the cost per
kWh)
• Flash systems, using 170-250⁰C water, have final costs
of 9-13 cents/kWh
• Binary-cycle systems, using cooler water (down to
130⁰C), have final costs of 10-24 cents/kWh
 Cost to drill a well as a function of depth of well
(several production and injection wells would need
to be drilled for a 30 MW plant)

Source: Nathwani and Mines (2015), https://pangea.stanford.edu/ERE/db/WGC/papers/WGC/2015/04022.pdf

There will be a tradeoff – deeper wells cost
more to drill, but deeper wells will tap hotter
water, which increases the electricity
generation efficiency and hence electricity
production, which reduces the unit cost
Larger projects have smaller unit costs ($/kWh), but there
is not much cost reduction beyond a size of 30 MW (see
the dashed lines in the figure below)

Source: Nathwani and Mines (2015), https://pangea.stanford.edu/ERE/db/WGC/papers/WGC/2015/04022.pdf

 Applications of oil and gas industry
expertise to geothermal energy:
• Deep drilling
• Fracturing of subsurface rocks
• Use of high-temperature tools
• Use of fibre-optic cables
• Preserving the integrity of well holes

As well, it might be possible to develop

geothermal energy at pre-existing oil and gas
wells.
 Figure 5.14 Cost of oil, gas and hot dry rock geothermal wells
100

Geothermal
Well Model
Predictions
30

10

3 JAS Oil and Gas Average

JAS Ultra Deep Oil and Gas
The Geysers Actual
Imperial Valley Actual
1 Other Hydrothermal Actual
Hydrothermal Predicted
Oil and Gas
Average HDR/EGS Actual
HDR/EGS Predicted
0.3 Soultz/Cooper Basin
Wellcost Lite Model
(ft) Wellcost Lite Base Case
5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000
Wellcost Lite Specific Wells
0.1
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000

Depth (meters)

Source: MIT (2006, The Future of Geothermal Energy: Impact of Enhanced Geothermal systems (EGS) on the United States in the 21st Century)
 Some brines (salty waters) from geothermal wells are a
potential source of Li, Mn and Zn. Li is needed in the
preferred battery technology, Li-ion. Zn is widely used and
is facing shortages in the future. Sale of such minerals
would increase the economic viability of geothermal
projects with salty brines, while addressing potential
mineral shortages (which would be reflected in higher
prices for the minerals).
 Figure 5.8 Worldwide direct use of geothermal heat and
generation of electricity from geothermal energy

30
Global Geothermal Capacity (GWe or GWth)

25 Direct use of heat

Generation of electricity

20

15

10

0
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
Year
Figure 5.9 Geothermal share of national electricity production

El Salvador
Kenya
Philippines
Iceland
Costa Rica
Nicaragua
Guadeloupe
New Zealand
Indonesia
Mexico
Guatemala
Italy
USA
Japan

0 5 10 15 20 25
Percent of National Electricity
Source: Renewable Energy World, Jan-Feb 2017
 Geothermal projects, 2006-2015:
• 118 binary cycle
• 58 flash cycle
• 14 dry steam

for a total of 4.4 GW, bringing the total installed capacity to 13.3 GW

(By comparison, total wind capacity at the end of 2016 was almost 500 GW and total solar just over 300 GW – for a total wind and solar of
800 GW)