Geothermal Facts and Stats #3
The third Geothermal Fact and Stat of our campaign focus on how Geothermal Energy Utilization is largely broken into three categories.
- High temperature (190-350°C) / typically electricity power production
- Medium temperature (100-190°C) / binary electricity power production
- Low temperature (<100°C) / direct use: house heating, bathing, industrial applications
There is a distinction between conventional geothermal systems and the techniques listed above and unconventional geothermal systems and techniques such as Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) and Deep drilling projects. Of which we will dive into with another #GeothermalFactandStat.
High-temperature geothermal fields are used for power production. Wells are typically drilled between 1 and 3km (3,000 to 9,000 ft) related to plate tectonics and volcanic activity. Great examples are The Geysers in Northern California, the Wairakei Geothermal power plant in New Zealand and Nesjavellir Geothermal power plant in Iceland.
Medium-temperature geothermal fields are also used for power production. Wells are typically drilled between 1 and 5km (3,000 to 15,000 ft) related to plate tectonics, volcanic activity, and sedimentary basins. Medium-temp geothermal fields need high flow rates for electricity production. Great examples are: Puna Geothermal in Hawaii and The Kalina 2MW power plant at Húsavík N-Iceland
Low-temperature geothermal applications include greenhouses, snow melting, swimming pools spas, food processing, fish farming, district heating and ground source heat pumps. The Geothermal Stats and Facts campaign will dive deeper into each of these very soon.
For more information and news, visit ThinkGeoEnergy.com and Global Geothermal News.
Keep following #GeothermalFactandStats for insight about our great industry.
