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Geo Thermal Energy
Geothermal power is the use of geothermal heat for electricity generation. It is often referred to as a form of renewable energy, but because the heat at any location can eventually be depleted it technically may not be strictly renewable. Geothermal comes from the Greek words geo, meaning earth, and thermo, meaning heat. Geothermal literally means "earth heat".
Geothermal power is generated by mining the earth's heat. In areas with high temperature ground water at shallow depths, wells are drilled into natural fractures in basement rock or into permeable sedimentary rocks. Hot water or steam flows up through the wells either by pumping or through boiling (flashing) flow.
Geothermal-generated electricity was first produced at Larderello, Italy, in 1903. Since then, the use of geothermal energy for electricity has grown worldwide to about 8,000 megawatts of which the United States produces the most, at 2,700 megawatts.
Three types of power plants are used to generate power from geothermal energy: Dry steam, flash, and binary. The largest dry steam field in the world is The Geysers, about 90 miles (145 km) north of San Francisco. The Geysers began in 1960 which has 1360 MW of installed capacity and produces about 1000 MW net.
Cal pine Corporation now owns 19 of the 21 plants in The Geysers and is currently the United States' largest producer of renewable geothermal energy. The other two plants are owned jointly by the Northern California Power Agency and Santa Clara Electric. Since the activities of one geothermal plant affects those nearby, the consolidation plant ownership at The Geysers has been beneficial because the plants operate cooperatively instead of in their own short-term interest. Another major geothermal area is located in south central California, on the southeast side of the Slaton Sea, near the cities of Nil and and Cal patria, California. As of 2001, there were 15 geothermal plants producing electricity in the area. Cal Energy owns about half of them and the rest are owned by various companies. Combined the plants produce about 570 megawatts. The Basin and Range geologic province in Nevada, southeastern Oregon, southwestern Idaho, Arizona and western Utah is now an area of rapid geothermal development. Several small power plants were built during the late 1980s during times of high power prices. Rising energy costs have spurred new development. Plants in Nevada at Steamboat near Reno, Brady/Desert Peak, Dixie Valley, Soda Lake, Stillwater and Beowawe now produce about 235 MW. New projects are under development across the state. Geothermal power is generated in over 20 countries around the world including Iceland (producing 17% of its electricity from geothermal sources), the United States, Italy, France, New Zealand, Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Russia, the Philippines (production output of 1931MW (2nd to US, 27% of electricity), Indonesia, the People's Republic of China and Japan. Canada's government (which officially notes some 30,000 earth-heat installations for providing space heating to Canadian residential and commercial buildings) reports a test geothermal-electrical site in the Meager Mountain–Pebble Creek area of British Columbia, where a 100 MW facility could be developed.
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, Nov 21 2006, 3:37 AM EST
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