Thread: limitations of a geothermal power plant

Why in uncommon see a geothermal plant in some hot springs?

How much time works a geothermal plant in all his life?

Does the heat generated in a hot spring is constant throughout the day, all year round, or does it vary?

what is the price about a geothermal power plant?

Good question. I would love to see more geothermal energy used.

I think it has to do with the number of available sites and access. My opinion is that there aren't many places that can be dug to find steady heat, without going too deep.

According to Wikipedia, on Geothermal Power, we currently generate about 10 giga-watts of geothermal electric power. We are getting there, that's 1/300th or power generation.

The wiki article also says this:

Geothermal power is cost effective, reliable, sustainable, and environmentally friendly, but has historically been limited to areas near tectonic plate boundaries. Recent technological advances have dramatically expanded the range and size of viable resources, especially for applications such as home heating, opening a potential for widespread exploitation. Geothermal wells release greenhouse gases trapped deep within the earth, but these emissions are much lower per energy unit than those of fossil fuels. As a result, geothermal power has the potential to help mitigate global warming if widely deployed in place of fossil fuels.

Originally Posted by Openknowledge

Why in uncommon see a geothermal plant in some hot springs?

How much time works a geothermal plant in all his life?

Does the heat generated in a hot spring is constant throughout the day, all year round, or does it vary?

what is the price about a geothermal power plant?

Reservoir capacity, temperature, flow rates etc.

I know of one commissioned in 1953 in New Zealand, still going, second on Earth.

It varies, because the liquid to gas ratio varies, so they use a heat exchanger, they boil a fluid with a lower boiling point to transfer heat depending on heat flow.

Cheap. NZ will be investing up to $2 Billion on development of a resource of 1.2GW, amongst other things, wind mostly?

Our power source is a supervolcano caldera, which is highly fractured, and now filled by our largest lake.

Geothermal wells release greenhouse gases trapped deep within the earth

The hotsprings I've visited stank of sulfur. But if we're tapping the heat in a big way, we're cooling them, so I'd think they'll steam less.