Geo-Thermal Energy

Department of Electrical Engineering

Assam Engineering College, Guwahati-13

Introduction

Geothermal energy originates from radioactive decay of minerals and from solar energy absorbed at the
surface.

Geo-thermal energy is one of the renewable energy sources.

It is very consistent, reliable, cost effective, eco-freiendly and it has the highest energy density.

Worldwide, geothermal plants have the capacity to generate about 10 GW of electricity as of 2007 and
in practice supply 0.3% of global electricity demand.

Geo-thermal energy sources

Hydrothermal
Convective
Systems

Dry-steam
fields

Geopressure
resources

Wet-steam
fields

Petrothermal
sources

Magma
Resources

Hot-water
fields

Volcanoes

Geo-Thermal power plants

Can be divided into two main groups, steam cycles and binary cycles.

The steam cycles allow the fluid to boil, and then the steam is separated from the brine
and expanded in a turbine.

A binary cycle uses a secondary working fluid in a closed power generation cycle. A heat
exchanger is used to transfer heat from the geothermal fluid to the working fluid.

Advantages of Geo-thermal energy:

Geothermal power production has a positive impact on local economies, and

creates significantly more jobs per megawatt than natural gas.

Geothermal power has a smaller land footprint than most other energy sources,
particularly when compared with other renewables.

Geothermal power has very low emission levels. Binary plants produce near-zero
GHG emissions while flash and dry steam plants represent a significant reduction
compared to fossil fuel based generation.

Geothermal powers established history of consistent output demonstrates a level

of reliability unmatched by other renewables and fossil fuel based generation.

Applications

Direct
District heating, Crop
Drying, Greenhouse
heating, Water heating

Indirect
Hydrothermal Electricity
generation

Environmental Impact

Direct use and heating applications have almost no negative impact on

the environment.

Geothermal power plants do not burn fuel to generate electricity, so

their emission levels are very low.

They release less than 1 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions of a

fossil fuel plant.

Geothermal plants use scrubber systems to clean the air of hydrogen

sulphide that is naturally found in the steam and hot water.

Geothermal plants emit 97 percent less acid rain.

Thank You