GEOTHERMAL POWERPLANT

GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
The centre of the Earth is around 7000
degrees Celsius - easily hot enough to
melt rock.
Even a few kilometres down, the
temperature can be over 250 degrees
Celsius

If the Earth's crust is thin. In general,

the temperature rises one degree Celsius
for every 30 - 50 meters you go down,
but this does vary depending on location.

In volcanic areas, molten rock can be

very close to the surface

TYPES
DRY STEAM POWER PLANT
FLASH STEAM POWER PLANT
BINARY CYCLE POWER PLANT

FLASH STEAM POWER

PLANT

BINARY CYCLE POWER

PLANT

If the water that reaches the surface is

not hot enough to produce steam, it
can still be used to produce electricity
by feeding it into a Binary Power Plant.
The hot water is fed into a heat
exchanger. The heat from the water is
absorbed by a liquid such as
isopentane which boils at a lower
temperature.
The isopentane steam is used to drive
turbines, producing electricity. The
isopentane then condenses back to its
liquid state and is used again.

Working Fluid Properties

Lower Boiling Point
Critical temperature and
Pressure Lower than water