A Project Report On

Geothermal Energy

Submitted By
Naman Mittal (1904331036)
Piyush Anand (19004331038)
Abhishek Singh Rajput (1904331003)

Under the supervision of

Dr. N.S. Beniwal

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of

the degree of

BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY

Department of Electronics and Communication

Engineering
Bundelkhand Institute of Engineering &
Technology, Jhansi, India
2022-2023
 DECLARATION

We hereby proclaim that this report entitled “Geothermal Energy” is based on the work
carried out during the course of our study. We have followed the guidelines provided by the
institution in writing the report. Whenever we have used materials (data, theoretical analysis, and
text) from other sources, we have given due credit to them in the text of the report and giving their
details in the references.

Naman Mittal (1904331036)

Piyush Anand (1904331038)
Abhishek Singh Rajput (1904331003)
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project entitled “Geothermal Energy”, has been carried
out by Naman Mittal(1904331036), Piyush Anand(1904331038), Abhishek Singh
Rajput(1904331004) under the guidance of Dr. N.S. Beniwal of Electronics and Communication
Engineering Department at Bundelkhand Institute of Engineering and Technology (BIET), Jhansi.
This project is the part of the course Renewable Energy Resources(KOE-074) in the 7 th semester of
Bachelor of Technology in Electronics & Communication Engineering, during the academic year
2022-2023.

Dr. N.S. Beniwal

Professor
ECE Department

Dr. Deepak Nagaria

Head of Department
ECE Department
BIET Jhansi
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Apart from the efforts of ours, the success of any project depends largely on the
encouragement and guidelines of many others. We take this opportunity to express my gratitude to
the people who have been instrumental in the successful completion of this project. We would like
to show my appreciation to the Hon. Head of Department Dr. Deepak Nagaria for his support. We
would also like to thank Dr. N.S. Beniwal for sharing his knowledge. Without his encouragement
and guidance this project would not have been materialized. The guidance and support received
from all the faculty members of Electronics and Communication Department was vital for the
success of this project. We are grateful for their constant support and help.

Naman Mittal (1904331036)

Piyush Anand (1904331038)
Abhishek Singh Rajput (1904331004)
 ABSTRACT

Geothermal technologies use renewable energy resources to generate electricity and direct use of
heat while producing very low levels of greenhousegas (GHG) emissions. Geothermal energy is the
thermal energy stored in the underground, including any contained fluid, which is available for
extraction and conversion into energy products. Electricity generation, which nowadays produces
73.7 TWh (12.7 GW of capacity) worldwide, usually requires geothermal resources temperatures of
over 100 ◦C. For heating, geothermal resources spanning a wider range of temperatures can be used
in applications such as space and district heating (and cooling, with proper technology), spa and
swimming pool heating, greenhouse and soil heating, aquaculture pond heating, industrial process
heating and snow melting. Produced geothermal heat in the world accounts to 164.6 TWh, with a
capacity of 70.9 GW. Geothermal technology, which has focused for decades on extracting naturally
heated steam or hot water from natural hydrothermal reservoirs, is developing to more advanced
techniques to exploit the heat also where underground fluids are scarce and to use the Earth as a
potential energy battery, by storing heat. The success of the research will enable energy recovery
and utilization from a much larger fraction of the accessible thermal energy in the Earth’s crust.
 INDEX

 Introduction
 What is Geothermal Energy
 History
 Applications
 Types
 Uses of Geothermal Energy
 Advantages
 Disadvantages
 Future of Geothermal Energy
 Conclusion
 References
 INTRODUCTION

Geothermal technologies use the heat contained in the ground. In its broad term the
geothermal energy is the thermal energy contained in our planet, the Earth. In this document we will
restrict our attention to the practical use for mankind, i.e. the heat that can be extracted from a depth
up to about 10 km, which is the maximum depth reached by human drilling. In this thin portion of
Earth heat is inexhaustible, since it moves from the Earth’s interior towards the surface, where it
dissipates. Part of this heat derives from the slow cooling from primordial heat, involved in the
Earth’s formation, and part derives from the decay of long-living radioactive isotopes contained by
crustal rock minerals. The most abundant isotopes having a half-life comparable to the age of the
Earth, so that they can still be significant heat producers, are 40K, 232Th, 235U and 238U. The
amount of heat that is released to the space from the interior through a unit area in a unit of time, the
Earth’s heat flow, varies from place to place and with time, depending on the geological and
therefore physical condition of the underground. On average, the heat flow from the continental
crust is 57 mW/m2 and from the oceanic crust is 99 mW/m2 [1]. Our planet is a dynamic system,
with its inner changes, mostly slow from the perspective of human time, but producing very quick
changes close to the surface. These are not only earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, very well-
known to humans. The interaction of inner, geological processes with the physical processes just
above the ground surface originates the complex system characterizing the geothermal systems. The
hottest areas of the Earth’s surface are near tectonic plate boundaries, which are often associated
also to volcanoes and seismic activity and where hot magmatic bodies are present within or close to
our reference 10 km depth. The heat flow at the Earth’s surface therefore derives from the
radiogenic decay within the upper crust, the heat generated in the most recent magmatic episode,
and the heat coming from the mantle and inner Earth’s structures. In continental crust, where the
isotope heating is larger since granitic rocks rich of long-living radioactive isotopes are common,
the heat flow is highest in areas having experienced “recent” (less than 65 million year) magmatic
activity, whereas it decreases to 46 mW/m2 in crust older than 800 million years [1]. In oceanic
crust the concentration of radiogenic heating is negligible due to the rock composition (basaltic),
but the crust thickness is smaller than in continents and the heat flow largely derives from heat
flowing from the mantle. Most plate boundaries are below sea level and the young oceanic crust has
very high heat flow values. Geothermal exploitation is focused so far to continental areas, where
energy is requested. To extract energy from the underground we mostly use the water as carrier of
heat. As the crust is highly fractured and thus permeable to fluids, surface water, essentially
rainwater, penetrates at depth and exchanges heat with the rocks. Two main forms of heat transfer
occur within the crust: conduction and convection. Where rocks are very fractured and circulating
fluids are abundant, the resulting convective heat transfer is very efficient and can be easily
exploited by drilling wells and discharge the hot fluids to the surface. In these convective systems,
named hydrothermal resources, the aquifers represent the geothermal reservoir. Occasionally, in
areas of very high heat flow, the fluid has high temperature (up to above 300 ◦C) and, depending on
the pressure, can be vapor (steam) or water. Warm and hot fluids can be extracted from the
underground in a wide range of temperature and discharge rate, and used directly for their heat
content or to produce electric power. Even the modest temperatures found at shallower depths can
be used to extract or store heat by means of ground source heat pumps, that are nowadays a
widespread application for geothermal energy. Geothermal technologies described in the following
sections, while producing very low levels of greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions, have an important
role to play in realizing targets in energy security, economic development and mitigating climate
change. Geothermal resources, as opposed to hydrocarbon ones, are generally renewable since the
circulation of heat and fluid is continuous. There is a constant terrestrial heat flow to the surface,
then to the atmosphere from the immense heat stored within the Earth, and fluid enters the reservoir
from the recharge zones or injected in the subsurface through injection wells (in industrial plants).
Heat can be extracted at different rates. To guarantee a sustainable use of geothermal energy, the
rate of consumption should not exceed the rate of generation, so that the heat removed from the
resource is replaced on a similar time scale. Geothermal plants typically develop below a certain
level of energy production. Geothermal typically provides base-load generation, since it is generally
immune from weather and seasonal variation, therefore producing almost constantly and
distinguishing it from several other renewable technologies that produce variable power or heat
with time.
 WHAT IS GEOTHERMAL ENERGY

Geothermal energy is defined as heat from the Earth. It is a clean, renewable resource that provides
energy in the U.S. and around the world in a variety of applications and resources.

Costs of Geothermal Energy

Costs for geothermal electricity generation are 4.5-7 cents per kilowatt-hour. This is competitive
with some fossil fuel facilities, but one must keep in mind the drastic reduction of pollution.
Delivered costs depend on ownership arrangements, financing, transmission, the quality of the
resource, and the size of the project. Geothermal plants are relatively capital-intensive, with low
variable costs and no fuel costs. Usually financing is structured so that the project pays back its
capital costs in the first 15 years, delivering power at 5-10¢/kWh. Costs then fall by 50-70 percent,
to cover just operations and maintenance for the remaining 15-30 years that the facility operates
(World Bank Group, 2004).
 HISTORY

 Paleo-American Indians used hot springs in this area

 Hot Springs, Arkansas had $1 hot baths in 1830
 First electricity (20kW) from geothermal produced from natural steam in
Larderello, Italy
 New Zealand’s north island gets 6% of its electricity from geothermal energy
 1920: test boring in Niland CA
 1922: electricity generation in The Geysers
 1950: 95°F, 220kW generating plant in Katanga
 The Geysers CA expanded to 600MW in 1975
 WHERE IS GEOTHERMAL ENERGY FOUND

What does geothermal energy look like?

Some visible features of geothermal energy are volcanoes, hot springs, geysers, and fumaroles. But
you cannot see most geothermal energy.
Usually geothermal energy is deep underground.
There may be no clues above ground to what exists below ground
 APPLICATIONS

1. Space/District Heating: Schemes utilizing geothermal heat provide over 80% of the central
heating needs of Reykjavik city in Iceland and are employed in many towns in USA, Poland and
Hungary. The World Bank is currently supporting a program in Poland for using hot water from
unsuccessful oil wells to displace the use of coal for district heating (World Bank Group, 2004).

2. Agriculture and Aquaculture: In temperate and colder climates, greatly improved plant and fish
growth can be achieved by heating soils, greenhouses and fish ponds using geothermal heat. One
example of this is the largely successful Osearian Farm, Kenya (World Flowers, 2005).

3. Power Generation: With over 8000 MW of installed capacity, geothermal electric power
generation is a well-proven technology that has been especially successful in countries and islands
that have a high reliance on imported fossil fuels (World Bank Group, 2004)
 TYPES

Liquid-dominated plants
Liquid-dominated reservoirs (LDRs) are more common with temperatures greater than 200 °C (392
°F) and are found near young volcanoes surrounding the Pacific Ocean and in rift zones and hot
spots.
Thermal energy
Lower temperature sources produce the energy equivalent of 100M BBL per year. Sources with
temperatures from 30-150 C are used without conversion to electricity for as district heating,
greenhouses, fisheries, mineral recovery, industrial process heating and bathing in 75 countries.
Enhanced geothermal
Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) actively inject water into wells to be heated and pumped back
out. The water is injected under high pressure to expand existing rock fissures to enable the water to
freely flow in and out.
 CLASSIFICATION OF GEOTHERMAL RESOURCES

The Geothermal Resources can be classified into three categories, viz

a) hydrothermal
b) geopressure
c) Hot dry rocks.

Hydrothermal resources
Hydrothermal resources are those that are associated with natural convection systems. Their thermal
reservoirs consist of porous or fractured rocks, containing hot water or steam, which in the natural
state, transported towards the surface by density-driven thermo-artesian flow. All the currently
identified geothermal resources are hydrothermal in origin. Hydrothermal system may be further
divided into liquiddominated or vapour-dominated, depending on the ratio of water to steam in the
reservoir. Liquid dominated hydrothermal systems may be of low, moderate or hightemperature
type and are the most common kind of geothermal system being exploited commercially today.
Vapour dominated reservoir is much less common but includes Larderello in Italy and Geyser in
USA.

Geopressure Resources
Geopressure Resources are an example of conduction dominated heat flow system. Their energy is
confined in the porous spaces as hot water and sealed so that fluid convection is restricted and heat
transfer is by conduction. Their main characteristic is that their pore pressure is considerably greater
than the hydrostatic. Such reservoirs exist at depths >4 km in young sedimentary basins having only
slightly greater than average thermal gradients. Tertiary basins along the Gulf Coast of Louisiana
and Texas, USA are some examples.

Hot dry rock

Hot dry rock resources are another example of a sub-economic conduction dominated geothermal
resources. They occur in areas of high heat flow but low permeability and heat is transferred by
conduction. In these areas temperature exceeds 300°C at 2 to 3 km depth. To derive geothermal
resources it is required to open a fracture system at depth using hydraulic fluid pressure by drilling
and then penetrated by a secondary drill hole. Heat is extracted by circulating treated water from the
surface down the well, through the hot fracture network, and recovered up in the second well. The
technique is in the preliminary stage and is being applied in England, France and USA.

ADVANTAGES

 It is a renewable source of energy.

 By far, it is non-polluting and environment friendly.
 There is no wastage or generation of by-products.
 Geothermal energy can be used directly. In ancient times, people used this source of energy
for heating homes, cooking, etc.
 DISADVANTAGES

 Only few sites have the potential of Geothermal Energy.

 Most of the sites, where geothermal energy is produced, are far from markets or cities,where
it needs to be consumed.
 Total generation potential of this source is too small.
 There is always a danger of eruption of volcano.
 CONCLUSION

Geothermal energy is limited in extent as extracting the heat usually exceeds the replenishment rate
Hot, dry rock (HDR) is widespread and offers new resources in areas where geyser activity is
unknown Direct low-temperature heat transfer for home systems is practical as long as low
maintenance is designed into the system Sources of high temperature water or steam are limited and
the cost of extraction, maintenance, and operation will remain high in comparison with other
sources of energy Geothermal energy likely to remain at 1% of world energy [Kruger, 1973]
 REFERENCES

www.studymafia.org
www.google.com
www.wikipedia.com