Geothermal Energy as a Source of Electricity

• Main Author: DiPippo, R. (ed.)
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Division of Geothermal Energy, US Department of Energy, Washington DC (USA) 1980
• Subjects: GEOTHERMAL ENERGY; POWER PLANT; CHINA; EL SALVADOR; ICELAND; ITALY; JAPAN; MEXICO; NEW ZEALAND; PHILIPPINES; TURKEY; UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS; UNITED STATES; DRY STEAM; FLASH; DOUBLE FLASH; BINARY; HYBRID; PERFORMANCE FACTORS; NORMAL GRADIENT; RADIOGENIC; HIGH HEAT FLOW; GEOPRESSURED; POINT HEAT SOURCES; Geothermal power plants; Geothermal resources; New Zealand; Iceland
• Online Access: http://digitallib.oit.edu/cdm/ref/collection/geoheat/id/9309

Work on this survey teaches that electricity from geothermal resources is viable, and that its commercial risks are no different from those associated with the established and more familiar technologies. Geothermal power has proved beneficial for a number of countries, and will play a particularly important role in such developing countries as El Salvador and the Philippines, primarily because of its simplicity of construction, operation, and maintenance. It has demonstrated the ability to achieve capacity factors (ratio of kilowatt-hours produced per annum to the maximum possible) exceeding 80%. The comparable figure for fossil plants is only about 50%. In those applications, geothermal power has proved to be economical, and clearly less expensive than installations using oil, coal or nuclear fuel