\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Deriving energy from subterranean heat is no longer limited to volcanic regions. By drilling deep wells into the ground, it can be made to work almost anywhere. Engineered geothermal systems (EGS) are based on a related principle, but they work even in parts of the world that are not volcanically active, by drilling thousands of meters underground to\u00c2\u00a0 mimic the design of natural steam or hot-water reservoirs. Wells are bored and pathways are created inside hot rocks, into which cold water is injected. The water heats up as it circulates and is then brought back to the surface, where the heat is extracted to generate electricity. Because the Earth gets hotter the deeper you drill, EGS could expand the reach of geothermal power enormously and provide access to a virtually inexhaustible energy resource\u00e2\u20ac\u009d states a news item on \u00e2\u20ac\u0153HOT ROCKS AND HIGH HOPES\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (Inside story) in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Economist\u00e2\u20ac\u009d dated 2 Sept. 2010.<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0Geothermal systems are based on circulating hot water, heated either by volcanic or tectonic ( deep continental rifts) systems. Such system where natural rain water circulates is known as wet geothermal systems.\u00c2\u00a0 As on today, according to the recently concluded \u00e2\u20ac\u0153World Geothermal Congress 2010, \u00c2\u00a010,700 MWe of power is being generated from geothermal energy supplying 85 million Gwhr of electric power.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
The future energy need of all the countries will be met with by EGS systems.\u00c2\u00a0 For example, 2% of the energy (EGS) if tapped will be sufficient to meet the energy demand of United States of America, according to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00c2\u00a0 The Future of Geothermal energy \u00e2\u20ac\u0153 of MIT 2006. Currently\u00c2\u00a0 Soultz EGS systems has started functioning successfully. This will soon be followed by the EGS system in the Cooper Basin of Australia.<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.Over the next decade Geodynamics plans to build ten 50 megawatt (MW) power stations in Cooper Basin, and that may just be the beginning. According to Doone Wyborn, the company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chief scientist, the area\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s resources could support\u00c2\u00a0 hundreds of power stations with a total generating capacity of up to 12.5GW\u00e2\u20ac\u201dmore than all the geothermal power stations now operating worldwide\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 These benefits, in combination with growing electricity use worldwide, concerns about limited supplies of fossil fuels, and efforts to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions and prevent climate change, have prompted governments and investors to pour money into this emerging technology. Google, for example, has invested more than $10m in two EGS companies in California, Potter Drilling and Alta Rock Energy. Meanwhile America\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Department of Energy has announced up to $338m in stimulus funds for 123 geothermal projects, with nearly $133m earmarked for EGS research\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009d states \u00c2\u00a0the above magazine.<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0EGS technology is more or less well established. Following France and Australia other countries like Germany and England are lined up to harness this heat.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0India is not lagging behind EGS resources. Perhaps, India has the richest EGS resources considering the volume occurrence of high heat producing granites.\u00c2\u00a0 About an year ago, in a publication entitled \u00e2\u20ac\u0153 Granites and granites: India\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s warehouse of EGS\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in Geothermal Resources Council\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Bulletin followed by a recent proceedings published by the World Geothermal Congress 2010, it is stated \u00e2\u20ac\u0153 Assessment has been carried out on the power producing capacity of thee granites using the U, Th and K content. For example, estimates on a small volume of granite from northern India indicate that they have the potential to generate minimum of 61160 x 1012<\/sup> kWh. Perhaps EGS, in future, may make India energy independent and wipe out the 78,577 MWe deficit.\u00c2\u00a0 Considering the total surface exposure of such high heat generating\u00c2\u00a0 granite over the Indian subcontinent (150000 sq. km), their depth of occurrence and the stress regime of the Indian plate Indian granites will be future warehouse of EGS\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 Indian government has realized this potential and making efforts, through slow, in bringing geothermal under the primary source mix. India in future can\u00c2\u00a0 disprove the IEA (2007) report that it will a major coal importer in 2030 if its geothermal resources are judiciously utilized not only for power generation but also in building and food processing sectors\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6states these publications.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Deriving energy from subterranean heat is no longer limited to volcanic regions. By drilling deep wells into the ground, it can be made to work almost anywhere. Engineered geothermal systems (EGS) are based on a related principle, but they work even in parts of the world that are not volcanically active, by drilling thousands of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-geothermal-energy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/dchandra.geosyndicate.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/dchandra.geosyndicate.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/dchandra.geosyndicate.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dchandra.geosyndicate.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dchandra.geosyndicate.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=92"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/dchandra.geosyndicate.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":238,"href":"http:\/\/dchandra.geosyndicate.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92\/revisions\/238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/dchandra.geosyndicate.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=92"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dchandra.geosyndicate.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=92"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dchandra.geosyndicate.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=92"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}