DEEP GEOTHERMAL: UPS & DOWNS

An inexhaustible, emissions-free source of energy. When it sounds too good to be true, it often isn't true. The problem here is the cost of getting to the energy. And, of course, the small problem of earthquakes. Still, it warrants the research because if it could work...

Energy from hot rocks? Watch out for quakes; Deep geothermal drilling has potential but also perils, as Swiss city learned
Eliane Engeler, August 14, 2007 (AP via MSNBC)

WHO
Geopower Basel; Geodynamics Limited; Professor Jefferson Tester, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

The starting point in Basel, Switzerland, of the journey to the insides of the earth. Maybe the project in middle-of-nowhere Australia will be a little safer.

WHAT
A 3.4 mganitude tremor may be the result of deep probes into geothermal energy sources. The danger is alarming but the potential of deep geothermal energy may warrant risk.

WHEN
- The tremor was December 8, 2006. The last earthquake in the region was 1365. Basel drilling has stopped and official launch has been set back from 2009 to 2012.
- The Australian project aims to deliver 40 megawatts of electricity by 2010 at 3.8 cents/kilowatt-hour.
- $800 million -- $1 billion invested = 100 gigawatts of electricity by 2050 (the output of all 104 US nuclear plants)
- The US demonstrated the concept with Fenton Hill, N.M., project in the 1970s that went 15,000 feet but ran out of funding in 2000. DOE is not presently planning more.

WHERE
- The Geopower Basel project is being drilled near Basel, Switzerland. Rock slippage caused the tremor on the upper Rhine trench fault.
- Geodynamics Limited, Queensland-based, is drilling near the southern Australian town of Innamincka.

WHY
- Deep geothermal is potentially the cheapest and most consistent, predictable form of renewable energy.
- The geothermal sources being probed are 400 degrees fahrenheit and 3 miles into the earth’s crust (not the 1000 degree heat of the earth’s core). A scientist compared it to scratching the earth’s “shell.”
- Geodynamics Limited and Geothermal Basel are racing to be the first to produce electricity in commercial quantities from the deep hot waters. When drilling reaches the deep enough, cold surface water will be pumped down to lift the hot water up where its steam will drive generators.

Here's how it would work. (click to enlarge)

- Geothermal energy is said to be emission and pollution free, almost inexhaustible and abundant enough for the world’s needs times 250,000. 40% of US deep geothermal could meet 56,000 times US needs.
- Upfront costs are significant: A geothermal well, which would be good for a few decades, costs $7-$8 million while an oil well costs $1.44 million (but produces less energy)

QUOTES
- Professor Tester, MIT: "The resource base for geothermal is enormous…"
- Bryan Mignone, energy/climate-change specialist, Brookings Institution: "Currently in the U.S. new technologies in the power sector are competing against coal, which is very cheap…" (NewEnergyNews: If you ignore the externalities of emissions)
- Nick Nuttall, chief-spokesman, U.N. Environment Program: "This technology sounds very promising…but let's wait and see."