Provides Description Of Geothermal Energy Production (Essay Sample)

Geothermal Energy
Student Name
Professor Name
Course
26th October 2017
OUTLINE
* Introduction
* Geothermal energy production
* Dry steam geothermal power plant
* Binary cycle geothermal power plant
* Flash steam geothermal power plant
* Advantages of geothermal energy
* Disadvantages of geothermal energy
* Assumption
* References
*
Geothermal Energy
Introduction
Geothermal power is a mature source of renewable energy preferred for its high factor property. This means that one megawatt of geothermal energy produces more electricity than one megawatt of solar or wind energy. In 2016, geothermal energy production grew by 3.5% worldwide to reach 13.5 GW. Currently, the US is the leading producer of geothermal energy at 3.5 GW followed by the Philippines (1.8 GW) and Indonesia (1.5 GW)CITATION Geo17 \l 1033 (BP).
Geothermal Energy Production
Geothermal energy is extracted from the decay of radioactive materials in the center of the earth. Steam from the earth’s crust is pumped up at high pressure and used to rotate turbines which power generators to produce electricity. There are three main types of geothermal power plants: dry steam, binary cycle and flash steam CITATION Mae13 \l 1033 (Maehlum).
Dry Steam Geothermal Power Plant
It is the oldest power plant type and was first constructed in 1904, in Italy. It involves extraction of hot water vapor at temperatures more than 150 degrees Celsius from geothermal reservoirs. The steam is then pumped through production wells and piped to rotate turbines which produce electricity CITATION How \l 1033 (UCS).
Binary Cycle Geothermal Power Plant
Binary cycle power plant was first used in Russia, in 1967, and it is considered the best because it can extract geothermal energy from water at low temperature levels of 57 degrees Celsius CITATION USD13 \l 1033 (US-Department-of-Energy). This method involves pumping of a binary fluid with a lower boiling point than water into the crust. This enables the geothermal energy in the reservoirs to turn the binary fluid into steam which is then piped to the turbines to produce electricityCITATION Mae13 \l 1033 (Maehlum).
Flash Steam Geothermal Power Plant
Geothermal flash steam power plants use water at temperatures of 182 degrees Celsius or higher. High pressure steam is flashed into flask tank by lowering the pressure in the flask. The steam is then channeled to turn the turbines in the generators thus generating electricity CITATION Ren17 \l 1033 (World-Renewable-Energy). The first flash steam power plant was used in 1958 in New Zealand.
Advantages of Geothermal Energy
There are various advantages of using geothermal energy. The main advantage is that geothermal energy is a source of renewable power. The water or steam used to rotate the turbines can be reused again by pumping it back to the ground to produce more steam CITATION New16 \l 1033 (Randerson). The power plants are of high efficiency. This is because the geothermal heat pump system uses about 45% less electricity compared to other heating systems and the whole plant is flexible enough to suit different tasks CITATION Adv17 \l 1033 (GreenMatch).
Geothermal energy is also environmentally friendly. The energy production process does not involve construction of dams or clearing large areas of vegetation cover, which is the case in mining CITATION Gil17 \l 1033 (Gillaspy). The geothermal systems are also relatively cheap to operate. Most of cost is incurred during initial installation of the plant CITATION Ree15 \l 1033 (Reese). Since the plants are made up of few components, the overall maintenance cost is low.
Disadvantages of Geothermal Energy
Geothermal power production involves a lot of research to identify the regions with productive levels of geothermal energy. The cost of researching plus cost of plant installation and drilling makes the whole process cost intensive CITATION Bie13 \l 1033 (Biello). In addition, the fact that geothermal energy production is not well spread and inadequate production equipment together with specialist personnel make the extraction process more expensive CITATION Gil17 \l 1033 (Gillaspy).
Assumption
The assumption in this paper is that all the sources used to co...